Dalton McGuinty slams Electro-Motive over steep wage cuts

Premier Dalton McGuinty has taken the rare step of wading into a bitter labour dispute, publicly rebuking a U.S.-based locomotive maker that locked out 460 London workers for rejecting pay cuts of 50 per cent.

The dispute that began Jan. 1 at Electro-Motive Canada is a sharp break with the generally “fair and balanced and responsible and respectful” pattern of labour relations in Ontario, he said Tuesday.

“We have the case of an employer here which is clearly not meeting Ontario’s legitimate and recent expectations,” McGuinty told a business group in London, where his Liberal party lost two of four seats in the Oct. 6 election.

He called on Electro-Motive to “come to the table and demonstrate some flexibility,” but acknowledged he has not personally contacted company officials.

Electro-Motive Canada is owned by industrial giant Caterpillar, which last month reported annual profits rose 83 per cent to a record $4.9 billion.

Unionized staff in London, members of the Canadian Auto Workers, were making as much as $35 hourly, but Electro-Motive has said it needs a “market-competitive labour agreement that would provide for the future viability of the London facility.”

Electro-Motive pays about half the London wages to workers at its U.S. operation in LaGrange, Ill. The company did not reply to a request for comment through its publicist Tuesday.

Labour activists portray the lockout as an attempt by a powerful foreign company to take advantage of the economic downturn to bully workers and pad its profits.

CAW president Ken Lewenza thanked McGuinty for the support but said the union would like more substantial action given that there have been no negotiations since the company’s wage cut ultimatum.

“It’s one thing to say it in a speech but it’s another thing to see what we can do legislatively,” Lewenza said, calling for a law requiring a mediated or arbitrated settlement if the lockout of this nature drags on more than 60 days.

It’s doubtful McGuinty’s words will have “lasting impact,” said economist Mike Moffatt of the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.

“The premier does have the option of introducing legislation that would mandate that the two sides meet at the bargaining table but has chosen not to go that route.”

At Queen’s Park, opposition parties said McGuinty waited too long to intervene.

“You cannot sit on the sidelines while good jobs and an entire community are threatened by bad corporate behaviour,” New Democrat MPP Teresa Armstrong (London-Fanshawe) wrote in an open letter.

“The province’s role here is to try to get the sides together,” Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak told reporters. He blamed “high-profile and ugly strikes” on Liberal economic shortcomings — although the London workers were locked out.

“Doesn’t this point to an underlying fundamental problem with Ontario’s economy — that businesses are squeezed more and more and are looking to other jurisdictions and as a result workers in communities are paying the price,” Hudak said.

Original Article
Source: Star 
Author:  Rob Ferguson