Canadian workers occupy auto parts plant

Inspiring workers internationally, about 80 Canadian Auto Workers from Local 195 in Windsor, Ontario, ended their 24-hour plant occupation at parts supplier Aradco on March 18.

CAW members applaud as they prevent a truck from entering.

The CAW members at Aradco in Windsor, a working-class city on the banks of the Detroit River, had defied a plant closing with no compensation including no severance pay by Aradco’s parent company, Catalina Precision Products. Catalina halted production the week of March 8, when Chrysler severed its contracts with the corporation, which stamps parts for Chrysler.

“The workers here have decided to take over the plant. That’s the only thing we have in order to try to get the monies that are owed to us,” said Gerry Farnham, president of CAW Local 195, to the press March 18.

Catalina refused to pay the workers their severance, vacation pay and other benefits. Almost all of Aradco’s supplies are sold to Chrysler LLC, owned by the private-equity firm Cerebus Capital Management. The same is true for Aramco, another subsidiary of Catalina. Chrysler is now threatening to pull out of Canada if it doesn’t receive massive wage concessions from the CAW and a bailout from the government.

Opposition grew on the shop floor when news of the plant closing spread. The result was an offer on March 16 by Chrysler of $205,000 to be split among all the workers in the Aradco plant. The workers voted to reject the offer by Chrysler and proceeded to defy a court injunction to clear the plant.

The workers occupied the factory and welded the doors shut, demanding $1.7 million ($1.35 million U.S.) in total compensation. Word of the occupation spread quickly and the workers received widespread support throughout Canada and beyond.

Over 500 people rallied at the Aradco plant March 18, with the plant occupiers looking on from the roof. The rally included labor and community supporters as well as fellow CAW members from parts suppliers and production plants. They supported the occupation and prevented cops from storming the plant.

Due to the workers’ occupation and the widespread support it received, after the rally the CAW negotiated an agreement “in principle” that is forcing Chrysler to pay $400,000 (Canadian) to be divided among the workers.

But as part of the CAW-Chrysler agreement, the plant will be closed, and Chrysler is moving the tools and production equipment to another supplier. This had been prevented by the occupation and other worker actions, including the blocking of trucks at both the Aradco and Aramco plants.

Farnham said the $400,000 only adds up to about eight weeks pay for the 80 workers at the Aradco plant. He said that Aradco/Catalina owes the workers an additional $1.3 million in severance and other pay and the union is fighting for this.

This plant occupation is part of increasing direct actions by workers internationally, including the successful occupation by United Electrical workers at the Republic Windows and Doors plant in Chicago in December; the resistance to a jewelry-making plant closing in Rhode Island, which ended with arrests; the ongoing plant occupation at the Waterford Crystal plant in Ireland; and general strikes in France, Guadaloupe and Martinique, among others.

The anger at the bosses’ ongoing brutal attacks against union workers is being fueled by the massive multi-trillion-dollar bailouts of the banks worldwide, which have sparked resistance from poor and working people. These actions will surely increase as the capitalist crisis continues.