MP5
12th April 2013, 18:45
http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Local/2013-04-11/article-3218044/Labatt-workers-vote-in-favour-of-strike/1#Comments
Workers with Labatt Breweries Newfoundland in St. John’s, who have been engaged in a wildcat strike for over two weeks, have now officially voted in favour of striking.
According to a news release issued today by the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees (NAPE), the vote to strike was unanimous.
NAPE president Carol Furlong said the company is looking for 20 concessions, including a 20 per cent cut in medical and dental benefits, no medical benefits going forward for retirees, and the removal of a no contracting out clause.
The move by workers to engage in a wildcat strike was preceded by a request from Labatt to train replacement workers, who would then work at the plant in the event of a strike. Approximately 50 workers are involved in the labour dispute, and replacement workers are now on site.
“This was a callous move that unnecessarily inflamed the situation with regards to negotiations and which also put our members in a very difficult position,” Furlong said in the release. “Our team was and continues to be committed to reaching a fair deal at the bargaining table. The employer has made bringing that goal to fruition very difficult.”
Newfoundland Supreme Court granted an injunction this week to Labatt that prohibits striking workers from blocking the entrance to its property on Leslie Street. The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary was called to the site on multiple occasions in the days following the wildcat strike.
The most recent contract between Labatt and employees with Local 7004 expired at the end of March.
This is just another in a long line of attacks against the working class in my province. Everyone in the public sector is now in fear of being laid off and the private sector is not much better. The fact that Labatt is bringing in scabs and training them and that this is allowed is truly sickening. What is even more sickening is many of the comments in this story such as "they should be happy to have any job" or "they are uneducated while i have a degree in such and such so i would gladly work there for less pay". That comment sounds like it's made by some pissed off middle class grad student :sleep: .
It's this attitude of you should take what your given and the anti-unionism that has kept this island as little more then a colony to be exploited by Upper Canada and our own national bourgeois. We are run like a banana republic for christ sakes.
Anyway i certainly wont be buying anymore Labatt products until this is over (no great loss as the only Labatt product i like is Jockey Club) and i would ask me fellow Canadian comrades to do the same. With a very few exceptions their beers suck bad anyway :tongue_smilie:
Workers with Labatt Breweries Newfoundland in St. John’s, who have been engaged in a wildcat strike for over two weeks, have now officially voted in favour of striking.
According to a news release issued today by the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees (NAPE), the vote to strike was unanimous.
NAPE president Carol Furlong said the company is looking for 20 concessions, including a 20 per cent cut in medical and dental benefits, no medical benefits going forward for retirees, and the removal of a no contracting out clause.
The move by workers to engage in a wildcat strike was preceded by a request from Labatt to train replacement workers, who would then work at the plant in the event of a strike. Approximately 50 workers are involved in the labour dispute, and replacement workers are now on site.
“This was a callous move that unnecessarily inflamed the situation with regards to negotiations and which also put our members in a very difficult position,” Furlong said in the release. “Our team was and continues to be committed to reaching a fair deal at the bargaining table. The employer has made bringing that goal to fruition very difficult.”
Newfoundland Supreme Court granted an injunction this week to Labatt that prohibits striking workers from blocking the entrance to its property on Leslie Street. The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary was called to the site on multiple occasions in the days following the wildcat strike.
The most recent contract between Labatt and employees with Local 7004 expired at the end of March.
This is just another in a long line of attacks against the working class in my province. Everyone in the public sector is now in fear of being laid off and the private sector is not much better. The fact that Labatt is bringing in scabs and training them and that this is allowed is truly sickening. What is even more sickening is many of the comments in this story such as "they should be happy to have any job" or "they are uneducated while i have a degree in such and such so i would gladly work there for less pay". That comment sounds like it's made by some pissed off middle class grad student :sleep: .
It's this attitude of you should take what your given and the anti-unionism that has kept this island as little more then a colony to be exploited by Upper Canada and our own national bourgeois. We are run like a banana republic for christ sakes.
Anyway i certainly wont be buying anymore Labatt products until this is over (no great loss as the only Labatt product i like is Jockey Club) and i would ask me fellow Canadian comrades to do the same. With a very few exceptions their beers suck bad anyway :tongue_smilie: