Windsor Ontario:Strike vs Public Sector Cuts Shut City Down Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source: chrisbailey@gn.apc.org 21 Oct 1997 17:22:13 GMT [ME: As the song says, "When the union's inspiration through the workers' blood shall run, there can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun...."] Windsor Shut Down Unions, community groups and social activists closed Windsor, a city in south western Ontario, on Friday 17 October. Standing on the corner of Ouellette Avenue and Riverside Drive overlooking the Detroit skyline, we watched as thousands upon thousands of workers heading from east and west converged at Dieppe Park on the riverfront. Banners, flags, and chants filled the air as many took to the streets in protest for the first time in their lives. The action had begun at 11:00 p.m on Thursday evening. Most protesters stood on picket lines for 6 hour stretches, until relieved by their colleagues. 90% of workplaces were effectively shut down as people exercised their democratic right to protest against the Harris government agenda of public sector cuts. Workers from every sector then took to the streets to send a message to the Ontario Tories. Thousands of teachers marched and stood on picket lines beside auto, postal, construction workers and teamsters, defying the employers' threats of financial penalties against themselves and their unions. Public transit was shut down, the municipal government was closed, guards from the local jail walked off their jobs, no mail was delivered, Big 3 auto makers lost $millions in production, and the Windsor Casino which is owned by the Ontario government and generates 1.5 million in profit per day, was closed for 12 hrs. Downtown Windsor was desolate until the workers came marching in, reclaiming their community. The protesters chanted "Ontario, yours to recover", adapting the government tourist bureau slogan "Ontario, yours to discover". When General Motors of Canada threatened to fine each worker $2,500 for their involvement in Friday's protest, Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove stated that if GM wanted to play that game, they would have a picket line outside their plants every Friday from now until Christmas.... Harold Reaume owns Windsor Match Plate, a CAW tool shop in the city. Reaume threatened to liquidate his assets if "his" workers did not decertify from the CAW, as 8 busloads of supporters surrounded the plant and closed off the entire street access. At Friday's rally, speakers such as Canadian Labour Congress president Bob White, CAW president Buzz Hargrove, Judy D'arcy and Syd Ryan of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), and Lhea Cassleman from Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), spoke passionately against the Harris agenda and committed their unions to fight back. Sam George, brother of slain First Nations comrade Dudley George who was shot and killed in September 1995 by Ontario Provincial Police officers at Ipperwash provincial park, told the crowd of close to 60,000 that his brother had been killed for exercising his right to protest and fighting for civil rights, just as they were fighting today. LabourNet Report by Colette Hooson Vice President CAW local 240 ========================================= Sat, 18 Oct 1997 16:54:39 -0700 sent to letters@globeandmail.ca sender "Dr. James Winter" Regarding Windsor Day of Action October 18, 1997 Editor, The Globe and Mail Dear Sir: I would like to thank you for providing me with yet another example, for my classes, of your anti-union, anti-worker bias ("Protests target Ontario Conservatives," Oct. 18) Your page 3 article on Windsor's Day of Action was exemplary. First, it kept the news off the front page (although you did run a picture there). Next, it began with seven paragraphs devoted to a considerably smaller protest against Mike Harris by 1,000 teachers in London Ont. This served to bury the main story about how 40,000 protestors disrupted border traffic and virtually closed down Windsor. (As the Toronto Star reported, "The [Windsor] event is being described by many as the most successful of a series of Days of Action protests.") Next, you referred to the protest as, "a sometimes ugly display of anger," choosing to focus on a minor incident involving some shouting at a Day Nursery which was picketed. (The Toronto Star reported, accurately, "There were a few minor confrontations" during the day.) You gave prominence to an estimate of lost production from the Chamber of Commerce, and claims by the big three automakers. You devoted six paragraphs to Mike Harris's dismissal of the demonstrations. You ignored the community and labour leaders who planned the day of action, refusing to interview them. But by far your major accomplishment is that after days of protest spread over almost two years in eight cities, you have managed to duck the central point of it all. This is not about "lost production" or an alleged failure to impact on the policies of Mike Harris and Jean Chretien. It's about tens of thousands of Ontarians from all walks of life, demonstrating our disapproval of elitist and unpopular policies. It's about community: talking, marching, singing, and holding hands in solidarity. And it has affirmed for us what we knew to be true, despite your news media coverage: we are not marginal, militant, or powerless, and we are neither isolated nor alone. It's about the caring and compassion which remain in our society, despite the vested corporate interests at the Globe, Queen's Park, and elsewhere. And make no mistake about it: it is about how we shall overcome. Sincerely, Dr. James Winter, The University of Windsor (519) 977-7079 (Faxed unsigned, directly from computer) Dr. James Winter, winter@uwindsor.ca Associate Professor, 519-253-4232 Ext. 2911 University of Windsor Fax: 519-971-3642 ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytrc-10.23.97-01:42:38-15900