Saturday, March 20, 2010

Grey-Bruce Labour Council Delivers Message of Solidarity to Striking Steelworkers at Vale Inco

On March 22nd thousands of workers, union and non-union alike, will be in Sudbury to tell “Vale Inco that imposing its way of doing things on Canadian workers is unacceptable. In light of the recent celebrations of International Women’s day and Anti-Racism Day Labour Council President, Dave Trumble is clear in his message of support to the members of the United Steelworkers and the workers that will rally in support of the Steelworkers at Vale Inco; “We have to get the message to foreign corporations that they cannot import anti-union strategies to Ontario and Canada. In the company’s Brazilian operations, workers are not laid off, but terminated without cause. They have no seniority rights, no access to grievance and arbitration procedures and health and safety standards are extremely low”.

The 3,000 Steelworkers at Vale Inco are clearly holding the line for all workers and people of social conscience. Many in the business community will say that Vale Inco’s actions are necessary to make Vale Inco competitive in to-day’s global market. In response to this Len Hope, Labour Council Executive Member and Pension advocate, points to numerous profitable Canadian Companies such as Inco in the days before the feeble excuse of globalization permitted Vale’s Brazilian type punitive style of business and labour relations to take hold. Hope says that “globalization has been the excuse for too long for unwarranted, perhaps unprecedented, punitive attacks on Canadian workers and in the end a way of life that no Canadian should ever permit to be threatened, no matter where the threat comes from”.

The Grey-Bruce Labour Council, and the thousands of workers that find their voice in the Council stand in solidarity with the members of the United Steelworkers and all workers who will rally in support of the Vale Inco workers and the fight to maintain not only their collective rights in Sudbury, but in a very real way the society of fairness and social responsibility that has and must define Canadians and Canadian society going forward.

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