Company Gives Spurious Reasons for Not Negotiating
Stone Canyon Industries Holdings Inc., the company which owns Windsor Salt, is giving spurious reasons for why it is staying away from the negotiating table. On April 27 it issued a statement saying that "at approximately midnight last night, three masked individuals armed with baseball bats unlawfully entered the Company's Ojibway mine facility. The armed trespassers brutally ambushed one of Windsor Salt's employees, striking him repeatedly with the bats." The company is offering $50,000 "for anyone who brings information to the police that leads to the arrest and prosecution of the attackers."
The company presented no evidence which implicates the union or
substantial information on the alleged attack. From what the workers
know, any police investigation is closed with no charges having been
laid. It has also come to light that the manager in question was taken
to hospital and released shortly after without much ado. The workers
have rejected the company's methods of insinuating the union had
anything to do with let alone that it warranted halting negotiations
while the company investigates the incident. The company said in its
statement that it "intends to focus its efforts on identifying the
perpetrators and anyone who acted in concert with them."
Since then workers are informed that a firm of private investigators who the workers say are retired Toronto Police officers has been hired by nobody knows who to visit workers' homes to question them one-by-one and remind them about the $50,000 reward for information. Meanwhile no negotiations have taken place since.[1] The workers have informed themselves of their rights and are 1) asking who gave these private investigators the private information of where they live, which is against the law on the workers' privacy rights, and 2) not talking to them.
Besides this development, the police arrested and criminally charged 12 striking workers and a representative of Unifor national for disobeying a court order. The workers were arrested for blocking trucks on April 11 from entering the evaporation facility for four hours, which is beyond the injunction's permitted 15 minutes. On that day, federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh visited the lines and the company broke off negotiations, arrogantly declaring it needed time so that it could train its managers in Mine Rescue to keep production going during the strike. The workers blocked any movement of trucks in or out of the plant for four hours. Despite hundreds of workers being present that day, 13 were singled out and charged. As conditions of their release, these workers are not legally permitted to be within 600 metres of the picket line which prevents them from doing their strike duties. They have been given court dates for their charges.
While the company can keep workers out on strike for weeks by delaying negotiations on whatever arbitrary grounds it pleases to randomly announce, there is no demand by the courts to require the company to negotiate! In response, the workers continue to hold the line 24/7. All those who can are encouraged to visit the lines as much as they can and to provide financial support to Unifor Locals 1959 and 240 which represent the workers in the mine and evaporation plant and clerical staff.
Striking public service workers bring their support to Windsor
Salt picket line April 27, 2023.
Note
1. "Comment on Windsor Salt Ltd. Public Statement," EmpowerYourselfNow.ca, April 27, 2023.
This article was published in
Number 25 - May 10, 2023
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2023/Articles/WO10252.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca