The Militant (logo)  
   Vol. 70/No. 22           June 5, 2006  
 
 
On the Picket Line
 
New Zealand: Seamen from
Ukraine protest low wages
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand—Holding placards demanding “pay us our wages” and “we are on strike,” 27 Ukrainian seamen picketed outside the Port of Lyttelton here May 11. Recruited by Ukrrybflot, a state-owned Ukrainian company in partnership with Christchurch-based United Fisheries, about 65 seamen had come to New Zealand to work the Malakhov Kurgan. After spending four months at sea they were paid just US$2.30 a day, far below the minimum wage of NZ$10.25 an hour (NZ$1=US 63 cents). Facing abysmal working conditions as well as low pay, crew members occupied the ship. They have won backing from the Maritime Union of New Zealand.

—Baskaran Appu and Ruth Gray  
 
Salt miners on strike
in Ontario win support
GODERICH, Ontario—A strike by some 350 salt miners against the Sifto Salt company is holding firm and attracting solidarity from the labor movement in the area. The workers, who are members of Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union Local 16-0, walked out April 14. The massive mine, which is 1,750 feet deep, one and a half miles wide, and extends two miles under Lake Huron, supplies a major portion of the North American market. The workers voted by 99 percent to strike after the bosses handed them a take-it-or-leave-it offer that ignored their demands for an end to forced overtime, contracting out of union jobs, company respect for seniority, improvements to the benefits plan, and a 4 percent wage increase.

—Annette Kouri and John Steele  
 
 
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