Martin Blank
18th March 2009, 23:40
Yesterday afternoon, members of Canadian Auto Workers Local 159 in Windsor, Ontario, broke into the recently shuttered Aradco auto parts factory and began an occupation of the plant. Workers appeared at about 6 p.m. on the roof of the factory to rally the crowd and plant the union's flag in plain sight.
The workers are owed C$1.7 million in severance and benefits by the owners of the company, the American Catalina Precision Products corporation. Catalina's Aradco factory did 99 percent of its parts-making work for Chrysler LLC, which abruptly canceled their contracts with the plant last week, effectively closing it.
The occupying workers have had the support of local workers in Windsor and from Detroit, who have gathered at the gates of the factory to stop Chrysler security from retrieving the tools and parts still held in the plant. Local police have also been denied entry into the factory.
It is perhaps more than coincidence that this action came only a week after the tour by workers from Republic Windows in Chicago came to speak in Detroit to a crowd that included Windsor autoworkers.
Below are articles from the Canadian press about the action:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/03/18/windsor-plant.html?ref=rss
http://www.windsorstar.com/about-windsor-star/Workers+occupy+Aradco+plant/1399403/story.html
http://www.canada.com/Workers+rally+outside+occupied+auto+parts+plant/1402482/story.html
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/03/18/worker-standoff-at-canadian-supplier-plant-threatens-chrysler-pr/
The workers are owed C$1.7 million in severance and benefits by the owners of the company, the American Catalina Precision Products corporation. Catalina's Aradco factory did 99 percent of its parts-making work for Chrysler LLC, which abruptly canceled their contracts with the plant last week, effectively closing it.
The occupying workers have had the support of local workers in Windsor and from Detroit, who have gathered at the gates of the factory to stop Chrysler security from retrieving the tools and parts still held in the plant. Local police have also been denied entry into the factory.
It is perhaps more than coincidence that this action came only a week after the tour by workers from Republic Windows in Chicago came to speak in Detroit to a crowd that included Windsor autoworkers.
Below are articles from the Canadian press about the action:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/03/18/windsor-plant.html?ref=rss
http://www.windsorstar.com/about-windsor-star/Workers+occupy+Aradco+plant/1399403/story.html
http://www.canada.com/Workers+rally+outside+occupied+auto+parts+plant/1402482/story.html
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/03/18/worker-standoff-at-canadian-supplier-plant-threatens-chrysler-pr/