NDP attack ‘Republican-style’ assault on unions

The Hill Times:

Parliament Hill — New Democrats are gearing up to take on Prime Minister Stephen Harper over what they’re calling a “Republican style” attack on wages and benefits in 2012, with the latest flashpoint a New Year’s Day lockout of nearly 500 workers at the only remaining locomotive manufacturer in Canada.

The standoff at the London, Ont., Electro-Motive plant, now owned by U.S. machinery giant Caterpillar following a Canadian-government approved takeover, has surfaced as a key issue in the NDP leadership race, with candidate and NDP MP Paul Dewar (Ottawa Centre, Ont.) inviting all seven other candidates in the race to London this Friday in a show of support for the locked-out members of the Canadian Auto Workers union.

Lockouts and threatened job losses and benefit take-backs at other locations of Canadian companies recently taken over by foreign firms under Mr. Harper’s (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) government have been highlighted by other NDP leadership candidates, including NDP MP Niki Ashton (Churchill, Man.), over a contentious settlement between the government and U.S. Steel Corp. to protect threatened jobs at steel-manufacturing jobs in Hamilton, Ont., and Nanticoke, Ont., after the U.S. Steel takeover of Canadian-owned Stelco in 2007.

“This is all about who you represent,” Mr. Dewar said. “We’re talking about representing the interests of working people and everyday Canadians and they [the Conservatives] are about representing the fund managers who come in and fleece our companies and our country. Absolutely, I’ll have that debate with them any day.”

Mr. Dewar added: “This is a little too cute by half when they try to go after unions when they represent everyday people and workers, and by the way represent all Canadians. They’re the ones standing up to say to companies that are trying to cut back wages, which means less money in our communities, they’re saying this is wrong. The Conservatives would just say it’s business.”

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