Inco sale a 'net drain' -- Layton -- (add your comment)

Posted By CAROL MULLIGAN, THE SUDBURY STAR

Updated 4 hours ago

He was there to boost morale among strikers, who have been off the job "six months, two weeks, 11 hours and 30 minutes," as Nickel Belt MPP France Gelinas pointed out.

Layton took the opportunity to lambaste Prime Minister Stephen Harper for proroguing Parliament. If the House of Commons were in session, Layton and the NDP would be working to pass legislation to make public the sale of Canadian resources to foreign companies and ban replacement workers during labour disputes.

"It's bad enough that scabs are here in your case," said Layton. "They've locked us out of our jobs."

At that point, a striker standing at the back of audience yelled out: "Let's bring in scabs to do their jobs!"

Layton replied, "We don't support scabs in any context, brother. (We intend to) throw them out of office in the next election."

Not surprisingly, his remark drew loud applause.

That spirit of "them against us" dominated the 40-minute rally. Clearly among supporters, Layton told the audience proroguing Parliament is preventing MPs from "passing laws this government might not like," or asking questions the government doesn't want to answer.

"Sounds a lot like Vale," someone heckled from the back.

If the House were sitting, the NDP had several important pieces of legislation it hoped to get passed, said Layton.

One was a bill to make public details of the sale of natural resources to foreign companies.

Another would outlaw the hiring of replacement workers during labour disputes, said Layton. In provinces where there are laws to prevent the hiring of replacement workers during strikes or lockouts, there are fewer labour disputes, they are less explosive and productivity is higher among workers, said Layton.

Another bill would have made all future sales of Canadian resources to foreign companies open to the public.

"It looks like the fight for democracy and the fight for dignity in the workplace and fair compensation are coming together," said Layton.

That is no surprise, said Layton, because Steelworkers and the NDP have stood together before in long, tough battles.

"I know it's very tough right now," said Layton. "Vale Inco's ramping up the public relations machine to try and turn people against you."

Layton was referring to full-page advertisements in The Sudbury Star and other newspapers describing acts of violence and harassment against Vale Inco employees.

"Hang in there," said Layton. "You've been here before or your father and your grandfathers have."

Nickel Belt MP Claude Gravelle, the New Democrats' mining critic, spoke from the heart about what it is like to be a Steelworker on strike. Gravelle worked for Inco during the strike of 1969 when he was young and still living with his parents. By the 8 1/2-month strike of 1978-79, Gravelle was married, had young children and a mortgage.

Canada needs a national mining strategy to prevent "things happening here (at Vale) and at Xstrata," he said.

Gravelle accused the mining companies of high-grading the best ore at the lowest cost and leaving the remainder to mined at a higher cost and lower return.

"Then they'll come to government for handouts," he said.

Gravelle lashed out at the provincial Liberals for billing themselves as "labour-friendly," but not being in the Legislature when New Democrat MPPs Peter Kormos and France Gelinas introduced a private members' bill banning hiring replacement workers.

He accused Sudbury Liberal MPP Rick Bartolucci of standing on the picket line during the long, bitter strike at Falconbridge in 2000-2001 and promising if his Opposition government took power, it would pass "anti-scab" legislation.

Bartolucci later said he was opposed to "replacement workers then and nothing has changed. No one can commit to introducing government legislation while in opposition."

He accused the New Democrats of playing "cheap politics" and criticized them for "propping up" the Harper government when they could have defeated it.

Gelinas told strikers that the Government of Ontario has not shown any stewardship in regards to the strike.

When the Legislature resumes sitting in two weeks, she promised the NDP caucus would bring as much pressure to bear on the Liberals as possible to help end the strike.

If 3,200 workers were on strike in southern Ontario, Gelinas said the issue would dominate the Legislature.

"We're off their radar," she said of Northern Ontario. "Natural resources are off their radar."

Witness the recent appointment of a Brampton MPP as minister of Natural Resources, said Gelinas.

"How many natural resources are in Brampton?"

The MPP urged strikers not to get discouraged in their fight.

Gelinas said she was away on business in British Columbia when more than 1,500 Steelworkers held a mass rally to mark the six-month mark of their strike.

When she turned on a television set there, "we could hear you guys all the way across the country."

She urged Steelworkers not to let bad-news stories about some members or full-page ads by Vale Inco "define you as a union. You are a positive force in our community."

Sudbury New Democrat MP Glenn Thibeault urged strikers not to let the "bloggers and the negativity in the community get you down."

His front yard boasts a sign supporting Steelworkers and when the sign blew down, his six-year-old daughter put it back up again. When he asked her why, the little girl said: "Well, I want to make sure that my friends" know we support them.