Issue 15 of Linchpin, the newspaper of Common Cause, is now available online.

Inside you will find articles on CUPE's upcoming strikes and lockouts affecting the City and University of Toronto, the struggle against Caterpillar being waged by locked out workers at Electro-Motive in London, reports from Occupy Toronto and Occupy Hamilton, interviews with participants in the Egyptian Revolution and more!

Download Linchpin here!

Protest signs and work boots hang off a fence at the front gate of the Electro-Motive Diesel plant in London Ont. on Jan. 21 Photo: Mick Sweetman

By Alex Balch

There was little to celebrate this New Years Eve for workers at the Electro-Motive Canada (EMC) plant in London, Ontario. As midnight struck, the factory's 465 employees found themselves locked out of their workplace and forced into a labour dispute with one of the largest industrial equipment manufacturers in the world – Caterpillar Inc (CAT).

Common Cause supports the locked out workers of CAW Local 27 in their struggle for a living wage. The year of 2012 has begun with a blatant attack on the working class. Electromotive Canada (EMC), owned by Caterpillar, has demanded a 50 per cent wage cut and major pension and benefit concessions. When the workers refused to accept that offer the company locked them out at the start of the year. This shows that the capitalist class, aka the 1%, is only interested in their own profits and will stop at nothing to meet this goal.

The events at EMC will set the tone for the struggle against exploitation in London, Canada, and beyond. Whether this ends in victory or defeat, this struggle is important for all working people, but we must do everything we can to win. If mobilized, the power of the labour movement can stop the bosses in their tracks.

Electromotive diesel is locked out by Caterpillar inc. Caterpillar has record profits but wants to cut wages by 50% and remove all benefits. This after Caterpillar recevied help from the Harper Goverment (The tax payer)..

Filmed and Edited by Mike Roy
Filmed in London Ontario Canada
Filmed with a camera on loan from my friend Tammy :)

Occupy London Media
http://www.facebook.com/occupylondonontario
http://www.occupylondononca.org

Occupy Toronto Media
http://www.facebook.com/OccupyToronto
http://www.occupyto.org

By Mick Sweetman

This past year has witnessed a renewed assault on unionized workers that should be seen for what it is: a co-ordinated attack on the right of workers to collectively bargain with their employers.

One of the opening salvos in this new wave of class warfare occurred immediately after the far-right ideologue Rob Ford was elected Mayor of Toronto on a platform of “stopping the gravy train”—none-too-subtle code words for attacking public sector workers and the services they provide.

Workers Receive Owed Monies Following Plant Occupation
January 5, 2010, 10:49 AM EST

Workers at M&I Air Systems received their pay cheques in the days following a plant occupation and demonstration by the workers and supporters, held on December 21.

The Mississauga, Ontario plant suddenly closed its doors on December 15, throwing 180 people out of work, 150 of which were members of CAW Local 252. The employer refused to pay outstanding monies owed to the workers following the closure, which prompted the workers to take immediate action.

"The action taken by these workers was absolutely necessary, as the employer refused to have any dialogue with the local union and/or the local plant committee," said CAW Local 252 President Abbot Harvey. "This situation underscores one more time, the importance of legislative protection for workers and their families."

I don't know how many people caught this classic send off to the CAW head honcho in this week's NOW magazine but it's well worth a read as former CAW auto worker Kevin Wilson calls bullshit on the latest CAW leadership's caving to neo-liberal policies and the bosses.

Unlike Ford, GM isn't even waiting to see how many concessions the CAW leadership is willing to hand over before announcing that they're sack 1200 workers in Windsor.

Seems every time I open the newspaper these days one of the big three is hammering their workers and the once militant CAW is bending over backwards with excuses for the bosses.

This time it's CAW Economist Jim Stanford blaming the old boogyman of the foreign worker when he says;

"Most of the vehicles are sold by companies that are not based here and most of those sales are imported from offshore. Places like Japan, Korea, Europe,"

Now that may be factual, but is it really the best analysis that a union economist can come up with?

It's an analysis that shifts the blame from where it belongs, the capitalists at General Motors, and onto the international working class.

By,Bruce Allen is the Vice-President of CAW Local 199 ,
St. Catharines, Ontario.

The decline in overall union density, particularly in the private sector, has been a defining characteristic of the crisis of organized labour in this country for many years along with the debilitating effects of contract concessions. The union bureaucracy's predominant response has been to barely acknowledge there was a problem never mind seriously attempt to address it. That is until now.

Hot on the heals of a new contract with the UAW (which saw it's members strike for the first time in almost 30 years) Chrysler has announced plans to cut 12,000 jobs including a shift at the Brampton assembly plant.

This happened in Ontario with the last CAW contract with the "Big Three". How the hell can you agree to a contract then accept massive job cuts for your membership?