The unionists, members of United Steelworkers Local 2918, succeeded in beating back most of the company’s concession demands. The 136 workers produce shell casings for the Canadian and U.S. armed forces as well as trailer axles.

The new contract includes a 1 percent annual wage increase, a $200 signing bonus (Can$1 = US$0.81), an increase in long-term disability payments, and the cost-of-living clause from the previous contract. The company succeeded in deepening a two-tier wage system under which new hires will now be paid 20 percent less than other workers and it will take three years to reach the maximum rate.

The bosses had demanded a 12 percent wage cut, 32 percent lower wages for new hires, the elimination of four paid holidays, and the gutting of the seniority system.

During the course of the strike the IMT owners used court injunctions to limit picketing, brought in scabs, and fired 10 workers. The fired workers will be reinstated and have a three-day suspension placed in their records for nine months.

“It is very important we made a stand on the firings,” André McNutt, a set-up operator with 27 years seniority, told the Militant. “We were solidly together. We are a union and that’s what a union is for, not going back without my brother.”

Terry Coleman, a forklift driver and vice president of Local 2918, told the Militant that the company was “not successful in its attempt to interfere with union committees, seniority rights, establish departmental seniority, vacations, or pensions” and that “we retained our early retirement package in its entirety.”

Coleman explained that the strikers conducted a “political-style campaign,” going door-to-door in Ingersoll with literature explaining the stakes in the strike and drawing people down to the picket line. Support was also won from the Oxford County and other labor councils. The unionists said they took the strike to a trade show in Las Vegas where the culinary workers’ union helped print and distribute flyers to potential IMT customers.  
 
 
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