Lockout at the ABI Smelter in
Bécancour, Quebec
Steelworkers Launch Global Campaign to Force Alcoa to Negotiate a Collective Agreement Acceptable to the Workers
United Steelworkers policy conference delegates on their feet in
support of the locked-out Bécancour aluminum smelter workers,
April 4, 2019.
The United Steelworkers National Policy Conference held
in
Vancouver from April 2 to 5, announced a worldwide campaign against the
Alcoa/Rio Tinto cartel lockout of ABI aluminum smelter workers in
Bécancour, Quebec. The lockout has now lasted 15 months. The USW
demands the cartel end the lockout and negotiate a collective
agreement acceptable to the workers. The global campaign will focus on
exposing the anti-worker practices of Alcoa, which owns 75 per cent of
ABI.
USW International President Leo Gerard pledged to
organize actions
in the countries where Alcoa has facilities, suppliers and customers to
force the company to give up its dictate against ABI workers and to
begin negotiations. Action began when a USW delegation from Canada
attended the National Conference of the Australian Workers' Union on
April 7-9. The delegation included USW Canadian Director Ken Neumann
and two representatives of the ABI workers, including Local 9700
President Clément Masse. Quebec Steelworkers Director Alain
Croteau also announced that locked-out ABI workers will travel to
Pittsburgh on May 8 to intervene at the Alcoa shareholders' meeting.
United Steelworkers delegation participates in National Conference of
the Australian
Workers' Union, April 7-9, 2019.
Clément Masse delivered a speech to the more than
600 delegates at the USW Vancouver conference explaining that at no
time since the beginning of the dispute has ABI management negotiated
with the union representing the ABI workers. Masse said that every
offer from ABI management has
been presented as "final" and that the workers must take it
or suffer the consequences of a lockout. None of these final offers was
the result of negotiations between the two parties. The most recent
"final offer" presented in March gave the axe to all the working
conditions currently in the collective agreement, be it the pension
plan, the number of unionized jobs, the hours of work, the organization
of the
work, and union leave, Masse said. Alcoa amended the terms of the
agreement so as to give the power to ABI executives to make the changes
it wished without the union being able to challenge them, bypassing the
established process of filing grievances. The same was true of the
back-to-work protocol, which had never been discussed with the
union. The dictated protocol, which workers massively voted down, was
one-sided to the extent the company gave itself the right to suspend or
even cancel it at any time.
Clément Masse (centre) at Vancouver policy conference, April 4,
2019, with United Steelworkers Canadian Director Ken Neumann (left) and
Quebec Steelworkers Director Alain Croteau.
"They took a position to break the union, to attack the
heart of our
union," Clément Masse told delegates. "We are a strong union
that
stands up to the employer. We confront the employer when needed and we
have been fighting all the while to uphold our collective agreement and
make sure that our members are respected. With this offer
from the employer, we could no longer do our union work. This is not
just a fight for us. I think this attack on our union is an attack on
the whole labour movement in Quebec and in Canada. If the employer
breaks us, the employers will take this as a model and try to spread it
all over Quebec and across Canada. We will never stop fighting. We
are asking for your support and we will ask you again. We will fight
until we get a negotiated contract with our employer."
Following his speech, delegates came to the microphone
to announce financial support from their local or district. Many used
the opportunity to add to the financial support they already provide.
According to the Steelworkers, approximately $100,000 in financial
support was raised at the conference. Several delegations took
financial support application forms provided by the conference for use
in their regions in organizing a vote in favour of additional financial
support.
The Workers' Union at the Coca-Cola's Bottling Plant
(STECSA) in Guatemala sent a cheque of $1,000 to support the ABI
workers. STECSA recalled that international support for their struggle
was critical when they faced the most violent repression in the 1980s
and after from the company, the oligarchy and its police, army and
paramilitary forces. The number of union locals providing financial
support to ABI workers now stands at more than 400 in Quebec, Canada,
the United States, Australia and now Guatemala.
This article was published in
Number 13 - April 11, 2019
Article Link:
Lockout at the ABI Smelter in
Bécancour, Quebec: Steelworkers Launch Global Campaign to Force Alcoa to Negotiate a Collective Agreement Acceptable to the Workers
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
|