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March 20, 2012 - No. 38 Phony Lockout at Rio Tinto Alcan Rio Tinto Workers Call on Everyone to
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Phony
Lockout
at
Rio
Tinto
Alcan
• Rio Tinto Workers Call on Everyone to "Join
Us March 31 in Alma!" - Interview, Marc Maltais, President,
Syndicat des
travailleurs de l'aluminium d'Alma
• Brutal Expulsion of
Workers Should Be Declared Illegal Lockout, Union Says
Harper Dictatorship
Advances Plot for
Private Monopolization of Grain Trade
• The Vultures Are Gathering - Dougal
MacDonald
141st Anniversary of
Paris Commune
• Harbinger of the New Society -
Colleen Pearse
Phony Lockout at Rio Tinto Alcan
Rio Tinto Workers Call on Everyone to
"Join Us March 31 in Alma!"
Alma workers give standing ovation to welcome back delegation from international tour
at a meeting of Local 9490 USW, March 14, 2012.
TML: You returned recently from an international tour to promote the Alma workers’ cause and learn from the struggles of other workers. What is the union's assessment of the tour?
Marc Maltais: In spite of Rio Tinto Alcan (RTA) saying that we are slandering the company in depicting it as anti-union, Rio Tinto’s anti-trade union nature is no secret to the workers we met in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand. That is their daily experience with Rio Tinto. That reputation is not of our making. Secondly, we learned a lot about the impact of the government’s right-wing policies and especially the impact of the changes they have made to the labour laws.
The main aim of the tour was to build support for the Alma workers. Everywhere we went, trade unions committed to send delegations to our March 31 demonstration, to send support in any way they can and to the best of their ability. The support was unanimous from Utah to Tasmania, from San Pedro to Invercargill. We are expecting good news in this regard. Financial support is being raised in many places and we expect it for March 31. We were greeted most warmly everywhere we went.... It is not often as far as we know that a union is fighting not for its own interests but for those of the upcoming generations. This message transcends borders, language and nationality. That is to the credit of the local union I belong to.
TML: A
union membership meeting was
held today [March 14]. How did it go?
MM: The enthusiasm was incredible. The workers welcomed me with an ovation that lasted many minutes. It was very energizing and set the tone for the whole meeting. We had decisions to make. According to the Metallos' constitution, elections for union executive positions are to be held on set dates at the same time, so the election period was due to start. There were close to 700 workers at the meeting and we voted unanimously to delay the election until this conflict is over. So all the elected representatives remain in place until then. A resolution to carry on with our international tour as a way to bring Rio Tinto back to the bargaining table also passed unanimously. Our membership clearly understands the work that is being done and is proud of the representations that are being made on its behalf. Our union was already in good shape but we have strengthened our ranks in a way that will endure for a long time.
TML: While you were away, the newspaper Le Devoir published the contents of a secret deal between RTA, the Quebec government and Hydro-Quebec that allows RTA to invoke force majeure if it locks out the workers and shirks its contractual obligations. What is your view on that?
MM: When you hide something it is because it is something that affects the people. When you negotiate in secret, you are plotting something. So now we know what it was. FTQ's President Michel Arsenault put it well when he called it a holdup in broad daylight. What it means is that the Quebec people are financing RTA's lockout. It is that simple.
I was already convinced that trade unions have to take
part in the
political debate, take stands at election time, put political pressure
and what I saw in Australia and New Zealand convinced me even more. But
I am even more convinced now given what is happening in Quebec at the
moment. This is a many-sided
problem we are facing.
Nobody should think that this lockout just happened. In a way, it has been many years in the making. One of the first actions of the Quebec Liberal government was to amend, under a motion of closure, Article 45 of the Quebec Labour Code, which deals with sub-contracting. Rio Tinto was not even in the picture at that time, but what is happening today is a direct result of that right-wing policy.
 Alma, March 14, 2012: "Workers stand united to the end." |
TML: How are the preparations going for the March 31 demonstration?
MM: We have already received confirmations of people coming. Trade union federations and trade unions have pledged to send people. We have called upon the people of the region to join us in the action. We are calling upon everyone to join us on March 31 in Alma. Of course the action is being organized by the trade unions and it is going to be a big trade union gathering but we want everyone to be with us that day. We are all fighting together for healthy communities.
  Carnival organized by Alma workers and supporters, March 17, 2012. |
With the demonstration we want to tell Rio Tinto Alcan that enough is enough. We have made enough concessions in the region. We made concessions at the time of the old Isle-Maligne plant but the new plant is very profitable and we have to protect the upcoming generations.
For us preserving employment is a must.
Meeting of Local 9490 USW, March 14, 2012.
(Translated from original French by TML Daily; photos: E.R. Pelletier)
Brutal Expulsion of Workers Should Be
Declared
Illegal Lockout, Union Says
 Alma workers protest Rio Tinto's lockout, December 31, 2012. |
At the end of January, the Syndicat des travailleurs de l'aluminium d’Alma (STAA) filed a complaint against Rio Tinto before the Labour Relations Board. The union wants the brutal expulsion of the Alma workers during the night shift of December 31, 24 hours before their labour contract expired, to be declared an illegal lockout. On that night, over 150 security guards hired by Rio Tinto invaded the plant and brutally expelled the workers, not even allowing them to have their decontamination shower.
Hugues Villeneuve, STAA Vice-President, is in charge of the file on behalf of the union. He told TML that to get the Labour Board to rule that this expulsion was an illegal lockout is a matter of justice for the Alma workers.
"In our complaint, we are targeting the period of time between 1 am on December 31 and midnight on January 1. We argue that our expulsion from the plant 24 hours before Rio Tinto locked us out was itself an illegal lockout. We reject Rio Tinto’s argument that it was not an illegal lockout because workers have received their wages for that period of time. Rio Tinto has been trying since before the lockout to give us a bad reputation, calling us vandals who sabotage work in the plant. They say that we are to blame for the lockout. We want the ruling to set the facts straight by calling the expulsion an illegal lockout. We want Rio Tinto to be forced to divulge the ruling to all its employees the same way we have to post injunctions that are passed against us."
The complaint was filed with the Labour Relations Board at the end of January and there was a preliminary hearing at the end of February. Rio Tinto is stalling the process, saying it has a mountain of evidence to present to the judge prior to the next hearing.
According to the union the next hearing may not be held until June.
(Translated from original French by TML Daily)
Harper Dictatorship Advances Plot for Private Monopolization of Grain Trade
The Vultures Are Gathering
The Harper dictatorship's
plot for the private
monopolization of Canada's grain trade is moving forward rapidly. His
aim is to give the private monopolies that are behind his government
free rein to steal the Canadian people's grain and wealth. Harper's
major move was the destruction of the Canadian Wheat Board's
public monopoly of western grain marketing which officially takes
effect on August 1.
The Canadian Wheat Board (CWB), established in 1935, was the major block to private monopolization of the grain trade because of the single desk provision that was proclaimed in 1942. The single desk meant that as the sole marketer of the high quality wheat and barley grown in western Canada, the farmer-controlled CWB provided marketing clout to individual farmers who benefited from higher returns. By selling together through the single desk, western Canadian farmers were able to exert more power in the global marketplace than they could have if they had been competing against each other.
The latest development towards the monopoly privatization of Canada's grain trade is news of an impending takeover of Viterra, Canada's largest private grain handler, which began as a farmer-controlled cooperative in the 1920s. It is obvious that the impetus for the takeover is the destruction of the CWB, which has raised the Viterra share price by over 50 per cent in the last week. The proposed takeover involves the carve-up of Viterra by three private monopolies: Richardson International, Agrium and Glencore.
Richardson International wants to take over Viterra's Canadian grain assets such as elevators and port facilities. Richardson is Canada's largest privately-owned agri-business and has been controlled by the family since its founding in 1857. By 1923 Canada had become the world's largest wheat exporting nation and Richardson was Canada's leading exporter. The Richardsons have amassed a huge private fortune on the backs of Canadian farmers and the family is now worth over $3 billion.
Agrium wants to take over Viterra's 260 farm supply stores across Canada. Agrium, a major retailer of agricultural products and services, began as part of the Canadian Pacific Railway and is now 15 per cent owned by Canada's three largest banks. In 2010, Agrium bought the privatized assets of the Australian Wheat Board, then sold 40 per cent -- including the commodity management business -- to Cargill, one of the Big Five world grain traders and the largest privately-owned monopoly in the U.S.
Glencore, a shady company located in Switzerland, wants to take over the balance of Viterra's Canadian assets, including Viterra's business in Australia. Glencore is the world's largest commodities trader, with a huge world share of zinc and copper markets, and is heavily involved in exploiting the mineral resources of Africa. Glencore owns 40 per cent of mining giant Xstrata and is trying to take it over completely. Xstrata has major mining operations in Canada, having taken over Falconbridge in 2006.
The wheeling and dealing by Viterra, Richardson,
Agrium and Glencore in the scramble for the assets of the CWB puts the
lie to Harper's pious statements that he is opposed to monopolies,
which is how he characterized the farmer-controlled CWB in order to
"justify" its dismantling. Harper is only
opposed to public monopolies, e.g., the CWB single desk, because public
monopolies act in the interest of the people. Harper fully supports
private monopolies such as Viterra, Richardson, Agrium and Glencore
where
all the decisions are made by a handful of the rich in their own
interests.
As the corporate vultures gather around the remains of the CWB and however the actual takeover of Viterra plays out, the replacement of the farmer-controlled public CWB monopoly by private monopolies can mean only one thing. It can only mean that if the monopolies go unchecked, very soon Canadian grain farmers will once again be competing against themselves in order to sell their grain at ever lower prices. Just as the private grain companies and private railroad monopolies lorded it over the farmers in the early part of the last century, so too will private monopolies such as Richardson, Agrium and Glencore lord it over the farmers today.
The fight for public control of Canada's grain trade must continue. This is not just a fight of the farmers but a fight of the entire Canadian working class and people. Farmers must not be left alone to withstand the attacks of the private monopolies and their government representatives in the Harper government and the provincial legislatures. Public control of the grain trade and the expansion of public control into other areas of the economy such as softwood lumber is part and parcel of defending public right against private monopoly right and putting an end to the scourge of nation-wrecking by the Harper dictatorship and its corporate masters.
141st Anniversary of Paris Commune
Harbinger of the New Society
Revolutionary forces man the barricades, Paris, March 18, 1871.
This year, March 18 marked the 141st anniversary of the Paris Commune of 1871 when for the first time the workers of Paris held political power for a period of more than two months.
Karl Marx declared: "Workingmen's Paris, with its Commune, will forever be celebrated as the glorious harbinger of a new society." He characterized the actions of the Parisian workers as "storming the heavens" because they refused to be cowed down by the authority of the day which was in total denial of the conditions they and the society faced. They organized and took their stand in keeping with the requirements of the times and it is this spirit which has imbued the communist and workers' movement worthy of the name ever since then. Shining examples abound, as in the heroic resistance to fascism during the Spanish Civil War, whose 75th anniversary we celebrate this year, in the anti-fascist resistance during World War II and in all the struggles of the peoples for their national liberation and social emancipation since then.
Just as the communards of 1871 were able to
plant the
red flag and declare "Vive La Commune!," so too today the task is to
lift that banner and carry it forward at a time world reaction is again
on the offensive. Once again, the conditions are clashing with the
authority in yet another turning point of history.
As was the case at that time, today too what is required is the courage of conviction to open society's path to progress in a manner which is consistent with the requirements of the times. As was the case at that time, the working class is called on to settle scores with all the filth, violence, reaction and obscurantism that the warmongers, the owners of capital and their ideologues place as obstacles to the working people emancipating themselves and taking control over their lives. Long ago Karl Marx declared that it is high time the working class constituted itself the nation and created a society in its own image, not the image of a few filthy rich specimens of corruption and greed presented as success stories on which the workers are supposed to feed.
When Karl Marx hailed the Paris Commune as the harbinger of the new society, he clearly highlighted the fact that the workers of Paris did not simply set out to take their place as the rulers of the same old society. They did not set out to reorder what went before them, but to build a new society, a society with a new mandate, an aim consistent with the needs of the communards and all the working people.
Long Live the Commune!
Lift that
Banner
and Carry It Forward to Turn
Historic Success into Final Victory!
Read The Marxist-Leninist
Daily
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca