Vol. 81/No. 16      April 24 2017

 

Canada bread workers strike over far-reaching attacks

 
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Some 160 workers are picketing at the Canada Bread plant in Langley near Vancouver. Members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union Local 468 voted to strike after the company locked them out on April 1.

“This is not really about money. They are trying to strip our seniority. The owners want to be able to send workers home after only two hours work,” Carl Fraser, vice president of the local, told the Militant on the picket line April 8. “They want to take benefits away from workers who are on call. They call you three times and if you aren’t available within 30 minutes you can be terminated. They didn’t bargain. They just said ‘Take this.’”

Canada Bread was bought in 2014 by Grupo Bimbo, the world’s largest baked goods conglomerate, based in Mexico. The owners also locked out 120 union members at their Laval, Quebec, distribution center.

“I believe the company representatives started out with the intention of us being out here today,” Glenda Brownie, who has worked for the company for 27 years, told the Langley Advance. Unionized truck drivers and engineers are refusing to cross the picket line. Workers from Safeway, a big food store, have come by to give support. There is constant honking as cars
go by.
 
 
Related articles:
NZ meat workers fight against nonunion individual contracts
Truck drivers across Russia strike over gov’t taxes
 
 
 
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