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Unifor President Jerry Dias joined with local politicians and other labour leaders recently to stand in solidarity with striking Crown Metal Packaging employees. The workers, members of USW Local 9176, have been on strike since September 2013 as a result of the excessive concessions demanded by the global manufacturer.
In a strike which has been characterized by corporate ugliness, Crown Packaging first demanded two-tier wages, but now wants a 30 per cent pay cut across the workforce, which would drop hourly wages from $25/hour to $16/hour on average. It also wants to wind up the Defined Benefits pension plan.
Dias addressed at the February 9 rally saying, “We have nothing but admiration for the workers who have maintained this picket line for 17 months – and you are still strong. We applaud you.” Dias went on to say that the strike was about the “basic right to negotiate, and to return to work with dignity after a labour dispute – and not to be punished and replaced by a scab.”
Crown Packaging has been using scabs to maintain production at the plant, so the striking workers have been campaigning for an Ontario-wide boycott: “Bottles, Not Cans” calls on beer consumers to buy beer bottles and to boycott cans made by Crown.
