"There is no turning back now," Burke said to a Militant reporting team June 30. "The company is playing hard ball. They aren’t interested in building trucks. It’s a political fight now. They want to use the law to set a precedent by getting scabs into an assembly plant."

In 1995 the Ontario Conservative government legalized the use of scabs, throwing out an anti-scab law adopted by the previous New Democratic Party government. CAW officials point out that no major corporation has attempted to use scabs to break a strike in auto or truck assembly since 1945.

The union took strike action to push back $14 million of concessions in wages, benefits, and working conditions sought by the bosses. Burke told Militant reporters about the escalating violence instigated by Navistar International since the walkout began June 1.

That very day, Burke reported, a worker injured by company-hired goons from London Protection International (LPI) in an attack two weeks earlier, underwent an operation on a blown knee cap. In that same attack another striker had his face split open by a hired thug’s boot.

The strikebreakers’ attacks culminated June 24 when an LPI van hit six strikers and supporters who were attempting to intercept a busload of scabs headed towards the plant. One auto worker, Don Milner, a 37-year-old skilled trades worker at DaimlerChysler in Windsor and a member of CAW Local 444, is in an coma suffering from multiple fractures and internal injuries. His conditions is classified as critical.

Strikers reported that the union has a videotape of the speeding LPI van knocking Milner and other strikers to the ground. After the front wheels of the van ran over Milner, the driver stopped the vehicle and then backed up over him.

Many union members are outraged that the driver was only charged with dangerous driving. "He should have been charged with attempted murder," said one striker. Milner’s wife and two small children were with him at the time.

Since the June 24 attack, the company has not tried to bring in any more scabs. The plant is now supposed to be on a previously-scheduled annual two-week production shutdown. However, the strikers are expecting further attempts by the company to bring in scabs.

On July 4 a judge will rule on whether or not to extend court injunctions won by the company against the union limiting pickets at the company’s numerous plant gates to a total of 50. The injunctions have not stopped the workers from mobilizing to deter the scabs. Three hundred workers were gathered to turn back the expected busload of scabs some distance from the plant June 24, with hundreds more prepared to meet them at the plant gate.

Many union members have canceled their vacation plans to volunteer for picket duty. Pickets are receiving weekly strike support payments of $150 to $200.  
 
Growing unity and increasing solidarity
After previous company layoffs, two-thirds of the workers have 25 or more years of seniority. Many are veterans of previous walkouts, such as the 13-week dispute in 1974 in which workers won a "30-and-out" clause giving them the right to retire after 30 years on the job. That was the last big strike at the Chatham plant. Since then two strikes have occurred, each lasting a few days.

"I hired on just before the 1974 strike," said Gerry McKeon, who works as a stock person and will retire soon. "Now I’m going out in a strike."

The strikers said their unity and determination have been firmed up since the June 24 attack. They are also winning support from other workers and the community as a whole.

"This is a real test," said Owen Bray, who mounts tires and has worked at the plant for 14 years. "It woke a lot of people up who wanted to let sleeping dogs lie."

"This strike has more or less united the older and younger workers who are learning that we had to fight for what we have and that we have to fight to keep it," said another worker.

Another striker said that the local had been strengthened by the company’s challenge. A farmer himself, he reported that about 30 percent of the workers farm land in the area, which is part of the southwestern Ontario agricultural belt.

One striker reported proudly that the previous week Local 127 members had joined a picket line of CAW members who were on a wildcat strike against the Westcast Industries auto parts plant in Brantford. "The next day the company settled," he said.

The plant’s office workers, who also belong to the CAW, face the expiry of their contract in August. Many of them walk the picket line in the evening after they get off work. They say that if the company succeeds in bringing in scabs they will walk off the job.

Chatham Mayor Dianne Gagner, who is not regarded by many strikers as a union supporter, issued a statement asking Navistar to stop bringing in scabs.

"Although it’s in their legal rights to bring in replacement workers, we requested they not do so at this time," she said. "The situation is very volatile and it can’t be managed. This is really the first time this legislation has been tested. It’s a national issue and unfortunately Chatham-Kent is the battle zone."

The Local 127 union hall near the plant bustled with signs of solidarity from other union locals. Photographs of the action on the picket line cover a wall in the union hall lobby. A table filled with donated food and cold soda and water was available to help cool down the pickets, who have endured several sweltering days in the sun. In another corner is a donation box for Don Milner and his family and solidarity cards to sign.

Strikers flowed in and out of the headquarters to ask about Milner and make contributions, sign up for extra picket duty to cover hours when the picket lines are augmented, and look at the latest photos. Many just checked in before and after their picket duty. They wanted to talk about what to expect in the next few days.

The resolve of the strikers and their supporters was succinctly expressed in a letter by a laid-off Navistar International worker to the Chatham Daily News.

"It appears that the company will do what it takes to try to get the scabs in," wrote Lorrie Couture. "I bet they have been sitting in their big offices trying to figure out how to get these scabs in day-in and day-out....You will never get these scabs into the plant. The local and its supporters are going to fight to the end to save their jobs. I hope for the best for the injured CAW members and their families who came to support our jobs and theirs. If Navistar can do this to a plant this size, then they could go after the others also, so we are fighting for everyone, not just Navistar in Chatham."

John Steele is a meat packer and member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 175 in Toronto. Ilona Gersh, a member of United Auto Workers Local 157 in Detroit, contributed to this article.  
 
 
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