Vol. 75/No. 10      March 14, 2011

Canada: Airport workers vote
down contract, go on strike
MONTREAL—After voting down the final contract offer from Handlex in a close vote, 400 ramp workers and baggage handlers at three airports in Canada went on strike February 15. The bosses immediately declared a lockout of the workers, who are members of the Teamsters union.

The workers load and unload baggage for the main airlines, including Air France, Air Transat, British Airways, and Swissair at Trudeau airport in Montreal, Pearson airport in Toronto, and Mirabel airport north of Montreal. Air Canada hires its own baggage handlers. Handlex remains in operation using management staff and “temporary” workers brought in as scabs, according to strikers.

At a February 25 rally in front of the Air Transat head office near Montreal, striker Micky Lutchman said that the majority of workers earn $11 an hour or less. Many work split shifts that make home life difficult. He said a year ago the workers accepted a wage freeze but now the company is making bigger profits.

Ramp lead hand Jasper Reyes told the Militant, “We work with multimillion dollar planes and equipment. That’s a lot of responsibility. We want to be treated with respect.”

—Beverly Bernardo
and John Steele

N.Y. sanitation workers refuse
to start shift, protest job conditions
NEW YORK—Some four dozen New York sanitation workers refused to begin their 6 a.m. shift February 24 because of degraded work conditions.

Following a fire that destroyed the workers' locker room last September, they have had to change into their uniforms in the hallway of a garbage barge in the Hudson River. They also have to go to a separate trailer for bathrooms and showers.”

“We're not asking for the Taj Mahal,” union trustee Bill Corcoran told the press. “The men have to report every morning and change in a garbage dump.” The workers later began their shifts after the Department of Sanitation promised to meet with them about resolving the problem.

—Angel Lariscy

India: 40,000 workers march
against high prices, layoffs
Some 40,000 workers marched in New Delhi, the capital of India, February 23 against rising prices, layoffs, and the government’s antilabor policies. The action was organized by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, and attracted workers from a number of different unions.

“We earn R120 [US$2.65] a day. How can we afford to eat when costs are so high, from rice and wheat to sugar and vegetables?” Sushilabai Marawi, a farm laborer from the western state of Maharashtra, asked the Financial Times. “We want to send a message to the leaders of this country.”

Official inflation in India is currently at 8.2 percent, one of the highest rates in Asia.

—Brian Williams
 
 
Related articles:
Unions to march in United Kingdom on March 26  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home