—ON THE PICKET LINE—

Pacific Blue Cross workers locked out in
British Columbia

BURNABY, British Columbia — Over 600 members of Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 1816 were locked out by Pacific Blue Cross July 7. The bosses imposed the lockout in response to several work stoppages over the past couple of months protesting company concessions demands.

Local Union President Beth Miller told the Militant the main issues are wages, retiree benefits and the proposed length of the agreement. “I have been president for 20 years and I have never seen anything like this,” she said. “The proposed wage increase doesn’t even cover the cost of living.”

The workers picket 24 hours a day outside the company’s headquarters here, handing out a flyer headlined, “What kind of benefits provider slashes benefits for its own employees? Pacific Blue Cross.” Constant honking shows wide support for the locked-out workers.

The company website claims that it provides one of the “most generous benefit plans to our active and retired union employees,” but wants to “manage cost on certain benefits that threaten our ability to afford them into the future.”

The union points out that Blue Cross made $11 million in net profit last year.

— Joe Young

Quebec zinc workers’ strike over pensions is solid

SALABERRY-DE-VALLEYFIELD, Quebec — Despite a court injunction that restricts picketing, the 371 members of United Steelworkers Local 6486 have maintained picket lines around the clock here at CEZinc, one of the 10 largest zinc refineries worldwide. They have been winning support.

The zinc workers went on strike Feb. 12 to renew their contract and to oppose the employer’s plans to replace the current pension plan that is 100 percent company funded with one where union members pay 50 percent. Some 600 USW locals across Quebec are contributing to the union’s strike fund.

Zinc Electrolyte of Canada (CEZinc) is owned by Noranda Income Fund, whose major shareholder is the Glencore Mining Group, a multinational company based in Switzerland.

“The company openly states that it is going after our collective agreement to reduce its production costs,” striker Éric Hallé told the Militant on the picket line. He is a welder with 38 years experience.

“We do hazardous work, with lots of chemical products. We are underpaid for this type of job,” said Abdel Chaoua, another welder with 10 years experience in the oil industry of his native Algeria. “We would not have gone on strike if the company offered us the status quo.”

There have been no negotiations for weeks. The company has maintained minimum production with its executives and some local contractors, whose names are posted as scabs on a large sign by the picket line.

— Michel Prairie and Sylvie Charbin