sitdown

  • Canadian Auto Workers Block Plant Auction To Salvage Back Pay, Benefits
    Gerry Farnham
    Jan 4 2010 - 4:36am

    Why are workers forced to occupy plants and blockade workplaces to get what they are legally entitled to? Canadian auto workers are in a bitter struggle just to win severance and benefits they're owed.

  • Support Fired Auto Union Leader Who Backed Visteon Sit-Down

    Body:

    Rob Williams, local convenor (chief steward) of the Unite union, was fired April 28 at the Linamar car parts factory in Swansea, Wales, for “irretrievable breakdown of trust”—that is, managers didn’t trust him to take their side. Williams had been active in supporting sit-downs at three Visteon plants in the U.K. (see page 16), and Linamar, which had bought the Swansea plant from Visteon, is now seeking pay cuts.

    As managers called police to escort Williams from the factory, he ran through the plant to the union office, which was quickly surrounded by workers who left their jobs on the line. The police backed off and management backed down—but only temporarily. They fired Williams again May 6 and removed the door to the union office.

    Expiration Date:
    Tue, 06/30/2009 - 11:59am