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December 22, 2011 - No. 134
Manufacturing Yes! Nation-Wrecking No!
Public Right Yes! Monopoly Right No!
AbitibiBowater
• Gangster Company Extorts Millions from Nova
Scotians
• Oppose Closures and Wrecking -
Pierre Chénier
Kruger
• Negotiations Break Down at
Trois-Rivières Plant
ArcelorMittal
• Working Class Must Have Organized Say and
Control Over Terms of Employment and Working Conditions, Part Two - K.C. Adams
• Contrecoeur Workers Demand Investments in
Manufacturing - Interview, Claude Langlois, President, Local
6586
USW
Rio Tinto
• Alma Workers Defend Union's Strength of
Numbers to Ensure Working Conditions and Standard of Living -
Interview, Marc Maltais, President, Syndicat des
travailleurs de l'aluminium d'Alma
AbitibiBowater
Gangster Company Extorts Millions
from Nova Scotians
Time for new
direction for the economy
 Another day, another
outrageous pay-the-rich scheme
from CEO Richard Garneau of AbitibiBowater, now known as Resolute
Forest Products, to extort money from Canadians. This time Garneau and
his gang of executives and owners of capital and debt have gotten away
with over $50 million and a possible
$40 million more. The political class in power in Nova Scotia is
handing over public money after caving in to Garneau's threats to close
a paper mill in Queens County on the South Shore. The Washington
Post Company holds a minority ownership of 49 per cent in the
Bowater Mersey mill.
The arrogance of Garneau's gang and the Washington
Post is such that not one leading executive bothered to turn up
December 2 in Liverpool, Nova Scotia for the official handover of the
money. NDP Premier Darrell Dexter and a few other members of the Nova
Scotia political class were left by
themselves to explain the transfer of public cash. The affair was made
even more awkward with the recent news that two former Bowater
executives have just been given an additional $4 million dollars in
severance while workers have had their claim on what they produce cut
18 per cent, and Garneau's latest scheme
demands 80 full-time and 30 casual workers at the Liverpool mill be
fired.
Shawn Fuller, a spokesperson for Premier Dexter,
commentated that "decisions" to give even more money to executives "are
the company's" while decisions to give in to extortion and hand over
public funds to private interests are those of the political class in
power.
Garneau will probably trumpet the gruesome details of
this particular pay-the-rich scheme all over North America demanding
something similar. "See what you have to do to keep mills operating you
people in Quebec and Ontario! Give us money, loads and loads of money
and concessions!" That is what is meant
by monopoly competition these days -- the competition is amongst the
political class in various regions to see who can come up with the most
outrageous pay-the-rich scheme while another aspect of monopoly
competition is centred amongst workers to see which collective of
workers will be forced to give the greatest
concessions. Those pay-the-rich schemes and concessions then become a
"competitive" template that the monopolies expect others to follow.
Garneau even had the audacity to say that he will use
some of the Nova Scotia money to pay down debt, which is held mostly in
the United States. That is certainly comforting to Nova Scotians to
know that their public money is heading south to be swallowed up by the
U.S. financial oligarchy, which is so much
beloved at home and abroad. Meanwhile, the political class in power all
over Canada screams about public debt and deficits "forcing"
governments to slash social programs, public services, lay off public
workers and cut their wages and pensions.
Let us break down the pay-the-rich scheme, which in fact
is far more than $50 million when you factor in the concessions from
the Bowater Mersey working class, municipality, Nova Scotia Power, the
Halifax Port and an option to buy back even more provincial forest land.
The provincial treasury gives Garneau et al an outright
gift of $25 million to be used as they see fit. Besides paying down
debt, Garneau says it will be used to reduce the mill's electricity
consumption but as Dexter's spokesperson says, "Those decisions are the
company's."
The gift is fashioned as a forgivable loan. Garneau only
has to keep the mill running for five years to have the full amount
written off at $5 million per year. Running at what level of capacity
is left deliberately vague.
The public treasury gives Garneau another $1.5 million
to retrain the 110 or more workers who are losing their jobs in the
deal.
The province has also agreed to buy forest land back
from Garneau for a total of $63.75 million. This part of the deal is
even murkier as some commentators suggest that the purchase price per
hectare is inflated, the monopoly does not need the land and probably
could not sell the land except back to the province
especially at a price of $2,348 per hectare. The deal includes the
immediate purchase of 10,117 hectares for $23.75 million and an option
for the province to buy back another 20,234 hectares for over $40
million. Neither Dexter nor Garneau, who of course was not present at
the announcement, gave any details of
what circumstances would activate the option to buy back the additional
amount of provincial forest land.
The Region of Queens Municipality has also reduced its
claim (or municipal corporate taxes) on what workers produce at the
mill by $1,350,000 over 10 years.
The Dexter NDP government also legislated a three-year
$3 million discount on the cost of electricity consumed at the mill,
which apparently will not be reviewed by the provincial utility board
even though that is the normal legal procedure.
In addition, the Port of Halifax lowered its fees for
handling goods coming to and from the Bowater Mersey mill but details
were not released.
 The Workers' Opposition
contends that the executives and
owners of capital of monopolies such as Resolute have hijacked the
capitalist economy and politics, including the state machine. They use
the power and public resources of the state for their private narrow
interests. These schemes such as Garneau's
extortion of Nova Scotia have nothing to do with fixing an economy that
is in crisis. They are ways to maintain the wealth and privilege of a
certain group of executives and owners of capital and debt. These
pay-the-rich schemes and demands for concessions represent a capitalist
economy and politics that has gone
into permanent crisis. The working class and its allies must discuss
and present an alternative direction for the economy and practical
politics that renew the economy and steer the country out of this
predicament. Workers cannot accept the wrecking of manufacturing nor
the doling out of public money to fill the
coffers of monopolies that have no loyalty or even connection with the
productive forces and resources of the region or country, except as a
means to fatten their own wallets and in the most cavalier manner
threaten their destruction. The entire mess from top to bottom has to
be renewed beginning with a firm No!
to handouts to the monopolies, No! to the wrecking of manufacturing and
No! to working class concessions, as they are not solutions. If the
monopolies cannot operate without public funds and government and
working class concessions then they should step aside and hand over
control and decision-making to those
who work on those productive forces and have a direct stake in them. In
the final analysis the forests and mills belong to the people and
actual producers and should operate to serve the people and the general
interests of society.
Concessions are not solutions!
Stop paying the rich!
Reject monopoly extortion; denounce the political class for
conciliating with the gangster monopolies!
Monopoly right no! Public right yes!
Manufacturing yes! Nation-wrecking no!
Time for a new direction for the economy!
Oppose Closures and Wrecking
- Pierre Chénier -
Demonstration against
closure of paper machine number 6, Kenogami, November 26, 2011. (FTQ)
On December 12, AbitibiBowater, under its new name
Resolute Forest Products, announced the permanent closure of paper
machine number 6 at its Kenogami mill in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean
region of Quebec. This leaves only one paper machine in operation at
the mill
while 150 workers were let go as of December
16. The monopoly's CEO Richard Garneau arrived and delivered the news
directly to
the leadership of the three unions at the plant in a 30 minute meeting
then left.
The permanent closure of the paper machine comes just
weeks after a demonstration of more than 1,000
people in the Saguenay which demanded the paper machine remain
operational and that the company end its attempts to pit the people
against one another on the basis that the survival
of one community would have to come at the expense of another's demise.
Further, the announcement of the permanent closure came just days
after the company had claimed the closure was temporary, due to lack of
orders. Based on their prior experience with the company, no one was
surprised by the latest
announcement. Resolute has also announced the closure of the Arbec
sawmill in Ascension in the Saguenay until
at least May and openly
speculates about shutting down a paper machine at the Laurentide mill
in Shawinigan.
AbitibiBowater management tried to justify the closure
saying the machine is old and inefficient, that the market for
supercalendered paper for commercial inserts is low and closing the
machine is a way to prevent a total shutdown of the mill. They also
claimed that the closure of machine number 6 is part of its
business plans following AbitibiBowater's exit from bankruptcy
protection, the very plan which was presented to the Charest government
in August.
The workers in the region have never accepted that
AbitibiBowater's path of destruction is an acceptable business plan for
Quebec society. If one judges by how it is implemented, it is clear
that it is disastrous. It is being carried out through the closure of
machines and factories, while claiming that operations can be restarted
if the workers and government agree to new concessions (and even then
nothing is guaranteed), and speculating about possible investments it
might undertake if the government makes the lion's share of the
"investment." In short, it is a plan to pillage the public treasury and
transfer the social wealth to the monopolies,
impoverishing the region and undermining Quebec's and Canada's forestry
industry.
All of this is accompanied by thinly veiled threats
that AbitibiBowater, which controls 80 per cent of the timber licences
in
the Saguenay, could close the forestry industry in the region, shut
down more of its operations across Quebec or place itself under
bankruptcy protection again.
This plan does nothing but aggravate the crisis in the forestry
industry. The company's plan even rejects the proposals from the
workers and other stakeholders in the region for the modernization of
paper machine number 6 or to diversify operations based on what
presently exists. At the core of the business plan is the monopoly's
arrogant outlook that it alone decides
what will happen to the industry. It is a plan of total submission
where the only role for the workers and people is as participants in a
race to the bottom.
The Charest government is acting against the public
interest when it pretends its hands are tied with respect to these
closures. According to Quebec Minister of Natural Resources and
Wildlife Clement Gignac, factory closures are purely private business
decisions. However, the monopolies are not private entities.
They utilize an enormous amount of human and natural resources and
materials for their operations. In the Saguenay, the entire region is
dependent on the forestry and mining industries under the control of
the monopolies. Governments are duty-bound to defend the people's
livelihoods and ensure economic development
which permits the regions to develop.
 Minister Gignac must not
abandon the workers and the
region by hiding behind vague promises of investments by AbitibiBowater
or the limitations of Bill 8 which governs the lease of the Shipshaw
river (used for production of electricity by AbitibiBowater). The
Minister even suggests that the company should present an investment
plan
(which would be largely financed by the government itself), so as to
authorize AbitibiBowater to close those factories deemed not part of
its business plan, even though Bill 8 prohibits this. It wants to
escape the people's demand that it maintain and expand forestry jobs as
a condition of leasing the river to generate hydroelectric
power for its mills, as legislated in Bill 8.
In its present form, Bill 8 states that the lease ends
December 31. Rather than upholding what people consider to be the
spirit of the law, which is to
defend forestry jobs, Minister Gignac says he can do nothing because it
is not the entire Kenogami plant which is closing, just one of two
machines. This is unacceptable. The government
could easily tell AbitibiBowater that it will not renew its lease for
the Shipshaw river if the company proceeds to close paper machine
number 6. Defending the livelihoods of the people and the regions would
be a starting point to renew the forestry industry. A government which
has the political will to defend the workers and
regions would have many options to intervene in the situation.
AbitibiBowater refuses to stop its destruction of the workers'
livelihoods and the industry. It falls to the people to get organized
and find
the means to block monopoly right.
In all of this, it is clear that more and more workers
and other stakeholders in the region are arriving at the conclusion
that AbitibiBowater's wrecking does not have a place in either Quebec
or Canada. In the coming year, the work to defend and renew the
forestry industry must be stepped up by all those who have the
interests of the workers and communities at heart.
Kruger
Negotiations Break Down at Trois-Rivières Plant
On November 28, negotiations broke down between the
Trois-Rivières paper mill workers and Kruger. According to the
union, Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP) Local 136,
negotiations broke down over the issues of jobs and wages and the union
has requested an arbitrator. The labour
contract at the plant expired late April 2009 and in early August 2009
the workers gave the union a strike mandate to use when appropriate.
Workers decided to take action immediately after negotiations broke
off, refusing to work overtime, as a means to force Kruger to bargain
in good faith.
The question of wages and jobs is central to the
negotiations following wage concessions made by the workers at the peak
of the economic crisis and drastic job losses over the years that have
continued, including layoffs just prior to negotiations.
In an interview with TML in August following
workers' demonstrations against new layoffs, Local 136 President Steve
St. Pierre said, "The old collective agreement will apply until we sign
a new one, which Kruger does not seem eager to do. At the height of the
economic crisis we made concessions
on wages and work rules without going through negotiations because we
wanted to save the plant. In addition, when demand and markets for
coated and supercalendered paper collapsed, we agreed to close these
divisions temporarily. Within 3-4 years we went from 1,200 to 300
workers. The plant now appears half
closed with unused machinery and the workers are all gone. The union is
part of a relaunch committee examining how to restart these divisions,
but Kruger has shown no interest. They only talk about making
newsprint, the highest performing plant of all the pulp and paper
sectors in North America. The problem
is that it's at the workers' expense. It has to stop somewhere."
On the issue of jobs, CEP National Representative Alain
Gagnon told the press, "The employer said they had sufficient staff. We
don't agree since they made cuts and compensated by making workers do
outrageous amounts of overtime. We are convinced there are not enough
workers without doing overtime,
so there's definitely no question of adding more personnel cuts on top."
The local media reported that at their general assembly
on December 1, the workers denounced Kruger for once again demanding
cuts to what they call "cost of labour" and maybe even further layoffs
while the number of workers at the plant has already been reduced to a
critical level.
ArcelorMittal
Working Class Must Have Organized Say and Control Over
Terms of Employment and Working Conditions
- K.C. Adams -
Dictatorship of
monopoly right at ArcelorMittal
Dofasco Hamilton
TML is
posting below Part Two of "Working Class Must Have Organized Say and
Control over Terms of Employment and Working Conditions" by K.C. Adams.
Part One was published in TML Daily, December 16, 2011 - No.
131.
Part Two
 Executive management's
unilateral declaration of changed
terms of employment and working conditions for 5,200 steelworkers at
Dofasco Hamilton goes against the modern trend of history. Workers'
right to an organized say and control over their terms of employment
and working conditions is a modern principle
that cannot be violated without creating disequilibrium at the
workplace and economy. Equilibrium at Dofasco Hamilton can only be
established with the recognition of the rights of steelworkers, in
particular, their right to an organized say and control over their
terms of employment and working conditions.
Without an organized say and control over terms of
employment and working conditions, the working class is reduced to a
slave class. A slave class works under the absolute authority of an
exploiting class. The exploiting class through establishing absolute
authority refuses to recognize the rights of the working
class. This refusal creates disequilibrium that will eventually destroy
the economy and both the slave class and exploiting class unless
equilibrium is established based on the recognition of the rights of
the modern working class, which includes an organized say and control
over terms of employment and working
conditions.
Through an October 25 decree signed by ArcelorMittal
Dofasco Hamilton President and CEO Juergen Schachler, executive
management expresses its absolute authority over Dofasco steelworkers
contrary to their rights. The Schachler decree includes the following
changes to terms of employment and working
conditions:
1. Reduction of vacation time
The Schachler edict declares, "For those employees who
have less than 250 hours of total vacation entitlement (annual vacation
of 200 hours plus 50 hours vacation bonus), future vacation entitlement
is capped at 250 hours per year. This eligibility cap applies equally
to new hires; "for employees who have greater than 250 hours of total
vacation entitlement, future vacation entitlement is capped at the
level
of eligibility earned as at July 5, 2012."
This dictate effectively lengthens the work-time of each
worker without any corresponding increase in the claim of steelworkers
on the added-value they produce.
2. Increase in the length of
the work-week and
continuous arbitrary changes to shifts to avoid paying overtime
The Schachler edict demands intensified work and changes
to the hours worked per day and week. These unilateral changes
effectively increase the length of the working week from 40 to 42.5
hours without any corresponding increase in workers' weekly claim on
what they produce. Workers' hourly claim on
the added-value they produce is reduced by approximately 5.88 per
cent. The percentage is more if the 2.5 hours beyond the current 40
hour work-week is considered overtime.
The decree declares, "Effective April 1, 2012, all
Maintenance and Operations Manufacturing employees currently working on
a 4 x 10 hour day schedule will move to a 5 x 8.5 hour day schedule [at
the same total weekly pay as the 4 x 10 hour day schedule]."
This dictate effectively lengthens the work-week of each
worker affected without any corresponding increase in the claim of
workers or the payment of overtime. By doing so, the executive decree
lowers the claim of steelworkers on the added-value they produce.
Also, the edict says that shifts will be moved around at
the whim of executives to avoid paying overtime. The decree declares,
"We will need to find ways to avoid overtime. When longer work days are
required for pre-planned outages, schedule changes may be required to
meet the business needs."
3. Elimination of the
existing defined-benefit pension
plan for new hires
 The Schachler edict
declares, "Employees hired on a
permanent basis on or after January 1, 2012 will be enrolled in the
Defined Contribution Pension Plan, including those currently employed
as casual employees who are hired on a permanent basis on or after
January 1, 2012. New Hires will not be eligible
to participate in the Supplementary Retirement Income Plan."
The edict ending the Defined-Benefit Pension Plan for
new hires effectively lowers the claim of the next generation of
steelworkers on the added-value they and the following generation
produce. This retrogressive action leaves the new generation of
steelworkers in an even more vulnerable position upon retirement.
4. Closure of the Open Coil
Annealing Line
The Schachler edict declares, "In addition to these
changes in the Total Cost of Employment Area, we are also announcing
the closure of the Open Coil Annealing Line. The line will be closed by
March 31, 2012 and affected employees assigned to different areas
within their business unit."
No further explanation or discussion of the economic
basis for the elimination of the Open Coil Annealing Line at Dofasco is
included in the edict. Workers are left to assume that similar
production will be taken over by another mill somewhere in the
ArcelorMittal Empire or that production in Canada is abandoned
because of lack of demand, however, no evidence is presented as to why
this wrecking of actual and potential production is taking place.
5. Elimination of full-time
employment, the equivalent
of 700 full-time jobs at Dofasco Hamilton
The Schachler edict declares, "Our current equivalent
number of FTEs (Full-Time Equivalent Positions) is approximately 6,000:
4,800 permanent employees; 400 casual employees; and approximately 800
full time equivalent overtime and contracted employees. Our aim is to
achieve a level of 5,300 FTEs by
the end of 2013. This will mean that we need to find ways to remove 700
full time equivalents from our company. We will do this by looking
critically at the level of contracting and overtime, in addition to the
number of our own employees."
No further explanation or discussion of the economic
basis for the elimination of 700 full-time equivalent jobs is included
in the edict other than to assert that it is in the narrow interests of
the ArcelorMittal Empire to do so. No concern is expressed either for
the insecurity this announcement causes amongst many
permanent, casual and contract workers or for the effects the
elimination of 700 FTEs and the other measures will have on the
Hamilton economy. Management couches the dictate in terms of what it
declares is necessary and good for the ArcelorMittal Empire, which it
expects Canadians to accept as ultimately good
for them and their economy. This is the arrogance of monopoly right
that simply dismisses public right and the rights of the working class
and the needs of the local and national economy.
Executive management also warns Dofasco Hamilton
steelworkers that other unilateral changes to terms of employment and
working conditions will be announced in the near future, as the changes
in the October 25 edict are just the beginning.
 The fanaticism of the edict
on lowering the "Total Cost
of Employment" and the number of FTEs has nothing to do with increasing
added-value at Dofasco Hamilton. The capital-centred terms and
declarations of the edict are an attack on the claims of workers and
the mill itself, especially its proper maintenance
and future capacity to produce. Reducing work-time reduces both the
creation of added-value in new product and replacement of value within
depreciated machinery and facilities. The work-time of steelworkers
applied to machines and material is the only way to produce value. Any
increase in the amount of added-value
available to owners of capital and executives through Schachler's edict
will come from the theft of the claims of steelworkers on the
added-value they produce, mainly from forcing them to work longer
work-weeks for the same claim, reducing their vacation benefit,
eliminating the Defined-Benefit Pension Plan for
new hires, arbitrarily rearranging shifts to avoid overtime, laying off
workers and demanding more intense work from those who remain.
The edict reflects a capital-centred egotistical outlook
that goes against the modern necessity for a human-centred outlook,
which includes the recognition of the rights of the working class. The
edict reflects the monopoly dictatorship over Canada's economy
exercised by the global monopolies such as ArcelorMittal.
The global monopoly is denying Canadian workers their right to an
organized say and control over their terms of employment and working
conditions. The global monopoly is also denying Canadians the right to
a say and control over their own socialized economy.
Dofasco Hamilton Workers and their allies must resist
this attack on their well-being and the intensified disequilibrium the
edict creates. A social responsibility of the working class is to
organize itself into an effective Workers' Opposition that can use its
power of numbers, its central position within the socialized
economy, and modern outlook and social consciousness to hold the global
monopolies to account and force them to recognize the rights of workers
and the rights of Canadians generally to control and build a
self-reliant diverse economy that can meet their needs and those of
society.
(To be continued: Refuting the capital-centred
arguments of those in authority at ArcelorMittal Dofasco Hamilton
surrounding the unilateral lowering of workers' claims on what they
produce.)
Contrecoeur Workers Demand Investments in Manufacturing
- Interview, Claude Langlois, President,
Local 6586 USW -
 
Contrecoeur, December 14,
2011 (FTQ)
On December 14, ArcelorMittal steelworkers in
Contrecoeur
(formerly Sidbec-Dosco) held a rally at the factory gate to demand
ArcelorMittal invest in the plant to modernize production and increase
the number of workers. The rally was part of the campaign launched by
the steelworkers called, "The lemon has
been squeezed dry -- Invest!" The steelworkers have had enough of
ArcelorMittal's frantic extraction of iron ore which it sends abroad
without
processing as part of the Northern Plan with the Quebec government's
full
support. Meanwhile the promises made of investments in Contrecoeur have
not materialized. TML spoke
with Claude Langlois, President of Local 6586 USW following the rally.
TML: Are you satisfied with your rally
at the factory gate?
Claude Langlois: We are very pleased.
There
were between 350-400 workers -- mostly steelworkers from our factory
plus
those from some other plants who came to support us. We had good media
coverage. Several politicians also came to support us, including the PQ
MNA for Verchères
Stéphane Bergeron and the political aide for the NDP MNA for
Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie Alexandre Boulerice. Louis Plamondon, Bloc
Quebecois MP for the Bas-Richelieu-Nicolet-Becancour riding who could
not be present, sent a message of support. Three United Steelworkers
Union representatives spoke: Guy Farrell, Assistant to
Director for Quebec; staff person Pierre Arseneau and
myself. All three of us focused on the investments that were announced
and the fact that we are still waiting for them, and how it's
inconceivable that so little of the second and third phases of
transformation has been done and that even the first
phase of transformation is being neglected. We also highlighted that
the Quebec government is way off the mark with respect to the workers'
preoccupations on this matter. Several residents also came to express
their support and we feel the people are with us. The question of
investments and manufacturing jobs
is starting to concern a lot of people. Among the workers as well we
see that the discussions are not the same as at the time of our fight
for the steel beam mill in 2009. The concern is greater; the workers
are conscious that if nothing happens we don't know what the future
will hold. These concerns are heightened as the Northern Plan comes
into play. People have heard about it and are making the link
between the Northern Plan and what's happening here. The media
interviewed the workers during the rally and they spoke very well.
 TML: Tell
us a bit more about the
campaign for investments in manufacturing.
CL: In late October, ArcelorMittal
announced it would invest to improve the wire mill. We were told
recently that the investment was put on hold because of the price on
the stock market, weakness in the European market, and more of the
same. We said that makes no sense and started our
campaign. We distributed leaflets on November 9 and 10 in front of the
plant and yesterday was our rally at the gate to which we invited the
media and politicians.
TML: What's left of the current
production at the Contrecoeur plant?
CL: At the current levels of production
there will be no slab produced in the last two weeks of December.
Production will resume January 2. This slab production is what remains
of the flat
product we lost at the end of 2007 when the two mills were closed. We
currently have two teams producing slabs.
At the end of the last quarter, the plant management talked about
moving to three teams but production is slow so we'll remain at two
teams until the end of January. The company has not commented on what
will happen at that time.
The entire Contrecoeur complex will close for the last
week of December. All production will stop for a week except at the
iron ore pellet reduction plant which can't really stop. But slab
production and production of billet for the wire mill will stop for the
last week of December. This represents about 400 workers.
Through negotiations we were able to win work for our maintenance
workers, mechanics, electricians and plumbers during the last two weeks
of December. We fought hard for this and won thanks to a clause in our
collective agreement that says if we are in a period of layoffs, they
can't bring in contractors or sub-contract
out our work. They have to give our people the work.
TML: Can you give us an idea of the
reductions in the number of workers over the years?
CL: In 1982 we were 1,650 unionized
workers at the plant. In 1994, when Mittal bought the factory we were
1,200 unionized workers. In 2008 we lost about 500 more jobs and now we
are about 530 unionized workers at the plant. The reduction of
unionized labour, besides closing two
large flat product mills, was done in several ways, for example by not
replacing maintenance workers who retired, through technological
changes, and through sub-contracting.
"ArcelorMittal, you
can't save yourself with our resources."
|
The lack of investment makes no sense especially when
you see ArcelorMittal announcing investments of $400-500 million a year
for a reduction plant in Algeria. There is no lack of money. Meanwhile
we are still waiting for investments in secondary and tertiary
processing right here. Even the first transformation
is increasingly neglected, especially in the context of the Northern
Plan. I spoke with steelworkers in Fermont working at the iron ore
mine. Increasingly, ArcelorMittal is just mining ore, loading it on
boats and shipping it to Asia without even turning it into pellets in
its plant. Tons of earth containing ore is shipped.
The link with the Northern Plan is clear. They come here seeking our
ore and have the government build infrastructure and roads for them.
Quebec
is paying for that.
In conclusion, for us the battle is for investments in
manufacturing and we want to win this campaign. This is just the
beginning -- we will not give up. Investment is everyone's fight. In
late 2007 they closed the two mills in Contrecoeur because they didn't
invest in that production. Production is still being done
but was moved to Dofasco in Hamilton because they invested there. We're
concerned that soon they'll tell us that the wire production plant is
outdated too, that we're not competitive, etc. We don't want to be bled
dry so the company can up and take off. Of most concern is the slab. If
we lose slab production the
cost of producing the other type of steel and billets, will greatly
increase and then closure will be imminent. We can't and won't give up.
Rio Tinto
Alma Workers Defend Union's Strength of Numbers to
Ensure Working Conditions and Standard of Living
- Interview, Marc Maltais, President,
Syndicat des travailleurs de l'aluminium d'Alma -
The Rio Tinto workers in Alma, Quebec, have rejected the
latest offer by the mining and smelting giant and given a strike
mandate to their union, the Syndicat des travailleurs de l'aluminium
d'Alma. The workers' main demand is in defence of their unionized
jobs, as Rio Tinto is attempting to reduce
the workforce and use outsourcing to replace jobs with non-unionized
workers under lowered conditions. The workers are calling for a minimum
number of unionized jobs with the wages and working conditions that
they
have won through hard struggle, to be a condition that Rio Tinto must
fulfill in exchange for the huge
hydroelectric benefits the company enjoys in the region. Rio Tinto, on
the other hand, is trying to mobilize the region against the workers,
by saying that the aim of the workers' demands is to prevent the people
of the region from accessing the jobs. The Rio Tinto workers hold that
their demands defend the standard
of living of the population in the region by opposing collective
impoverishment. TML interviewed Marc Maltais, the President
of the Syndicat des travailleurs de l'aluminium d'Alma, Local 9490 of
the United Steelworkers.
 TML: Can
you tell us about the general
meetings held recently on Rio Tinto's contract offer and the strike
mandate?
Marc Maltais: We held three general
meetings. At the meeting for the bargaining unit for the potlining
centre, participation was 100 per cent, and the vote was 100 per cent
in favour of rejecting the offer and giving a mandate to go on
strike when the time is right. Of the unionized office
workers, 24 out of 25 members of their bargaining unit took part in
their meeting, making their participation rate 96 per cent. They voted
96 per cent in favour of rejecting the company's offers and in support
of the strike mandate. At the meeting of the hourly wage earners' unit,
the participation rate was 92 per
cent and the workers voted 95 per cent in favour of rejecting the offer
and in support of the strike mandate. Of the 680 hourly wage
earners, 632 participated in the meeting. Our members' participation
rate is always pretty high, and this is the case in the current
situation.
TML: What are the main issues facing Rio
Tinto and the workers in these negotiations?
MM: Basically, the conflict is about
maintaining our relative strength as a union. People understand that in
our struggle over outsourcing and for the creation and maintenance of
good quality jobs, we're aiming to keep our relative strength with
respect to Rio Tinto. They understand that
as workers retire from their jobs, the employer is not guaranteeing
that they be replaced by unionized workers, and that the employer can
hire contractors instead. As a consequence, in a period of
negotiations,
strike or other conflict, these contractors will be used to keep the
plant running and cause the loss of jobs
at the plant. At this time, we are not fighting
over salaries or pension funds, but all the working conditions are
being called into question insofar as we will no longer have any real
relative strength to defend them.
In a strike or lockout, there would be consequences
insofar as third parties would be running the plant. Not to say they
would be scabs; they would be working legally, but they would run the
plant and we would lose our relative strength. All the conditions that
were acquired through sharp struggles since 1943
can be thrown out. This means that future generations cannot be assured
of having the same rights that we have today. To keep our relative
strength is to pay homage to our predecessors. That's the essence of
the matter, and that's what's convinced people. In my bargaining unit,
we have held two meetings lasting
more than two-and-a-half hours, and there was only one question asked
about the employer's package deal.
The employer claims that it is not demanding
concessions, but this is just an attempt to pull the wool over our
eyes. When you know how to read and analyze the company's offers, you
can see how it's setting about to "gently" bring us to our knees. Rio
Tinto sees the future of its aluminum works like this: If
you don't siphon tanks or cast metal, you are part of the "non-core;"
you are not essential and your job can be outsourced. Everyone feels
targetted. The company constantly discusses "core" and "non-core." Our
take on this is that for the moment the company will remove the service
jobs and say that the rest is still
"core," but once the services are removed, it will not hesitate to
replace production workers, meaning replacing someone who earns $34 an
hour with someone who earns $12. I don't believe that these
multinationals are going to keep people in their jobs with decent
conditions unless we make them do it.
The company's aim is to perform well for its
shareholders. No matter how high its profits, its goal is to keep
increasing them. That's the company's sole aim. But in no way is it
ours.
We live and work on this land which has vast natural
resources and we expect a normal return in exchange for the
multinationals' use of these resources. We are glad to earn our living,
but this must be done under good conditions. Furthermore, we are not
dealing with a company that is under the protection of
bankruptcy legislation. This is a company on a roll. The heads of the
multinationals in this sector agree that the aluminum smelters are
going to have difficulty in meeting demands. Rio Tinto's Alma plant has
the fourth largest production capacity of all its factories and is the
most profitable. We are certainly not
in concession mode. The workers' message could not be any clearer.
TML: Can you tell us about the
mobilization that the union is carrying out to win its demands?
MM: We have worked pretty hard over the
last few months. We think that well-informed members make better
decisions. Just last week, we met with all the workers, all 800 of
them, one by one. We did this work on all three shifts to meet with
everyone. Every week, we send out a report,
the Jaseur express, which is an information bulletin that
reports on what happened the previous week. As we speak, people are
receiving our newspaper, which we issue five to six times per year.
Each month, we have a general meeting and we have also had a
consultative council. We have
had sessions to find out what the
problems are. People are informed and eager to learn more. They aren't
following us just for the sake of it; they understand that individual
workers can make gains only through the collective.
We have a lot of success with the youth who are one of
our strengths. The average age at the plant is 41. We have a lot of
youth. If the youth are consulted, they feel they are part of the
solution and they will be there. We must be capable of channelling this
energy. To do so, we must be capable of getting out
of our comfort zone and going to see and consult with them.
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