All Out to Uphold the Dignity of Labour!
As Windsor Salt Strike Enters Week 13 Support Grows in Face of Company's Dirty Tricks
May Day rally at Windsor Salt picket line.
Workers in Windsor-Essex and beyond continue to express their support in concrete ways for the workers on strike at Windsor Salt in Windsor, Ontario. The salt workers have been on strike since February 17 in defence of the claims they are entitled to make, especially the contracting out of their jobs to non-union labour. Windsor Salt's owners, U.S. based-Stone Canyon Industries Holdings Inc. are known for union-busting and their tactics in this strike are in that direction. The support continues to broaden and grow because the workers' cause is just and upholds the dignity of the labour movement itself, not just in Canada but in the United States as well. In the U.S., workers are waging unprecedented battles against attempts to break unions and make unionizing impossible for the majority of workers. Meanwhile, the company has not even come to the negotiating table in Windsor since April 27.
Active and retired workers have been visiting the picket line from as far away as Sudbury, Oshawa, Toronto, Hamilton and elsewhere to show their support for the workers and also support them financially so that they can sustain their strike. Teachers in Ontario continue to raise the demand with their pension fund that their retirement savings not be used to finance Stone Canyon to carry out its anti-social anti-union activities.[1]
Retirees
from Sudbury Mine/Mill of Unifor Local 598 (left)
visit and
bring financial support and members of OPSEU Local 143 bring
their support.
On April 29 and May 1 rallies were held at the picket line where many contingents of the labour movement in Windsor and Essex County came out to support the workers. On April 29 a beautiful mural was unveiled painted by two local artists as an expression of their support for the workers. It includes a panel where everyone is encouraged to come down to the line and sign their name to show they stand with the workers in this fight. To see the video of the unveiling click here.
On May Day a large rally organized by the Windsor and District Labour Council was attended by broad contingents of the labour movement as well as students from the university.[2]
The response of the community is showing the company that its dirty tricks are not working to break the support for the workers or their morale. Far from it, more and more people can see for themselves what the workers are fighting for and why it is important that they hold the line and they are stepping up their support to lend a hand.
May Day rally, Windsor Salt picket lines.
Notes
This article was published in
Number 25 - May 10, 2023
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2023/Articles/WO10251.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca