(The following article is from the August 1-31, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

PV Ontario Bureau

Sudbury - If you bank at TD-Canada Trust, you'll have noticed the big green comfy chair that figures prominently in their ads. The message is that TD-Canada Trust does everything for their customers. That might be true if you're a mine-owner. But if you work there, bring your own chair, even if you have a disability and a doctor's note, as one bank teller did.

     That, and the notoriously poor wages, pensions and working conditions, are the main reasons why 110 workers here, mainly women, decided to get themselves a union. Certified 18 months ago, they are Local 2020, United Steelworkers, the only organized banking workers in North America.

     A one year contract followed certification, and most of the workers figured they were on the way to better wages and some dignity, rights and respect. Sudbury is, after all, a union town, where workers tend to stick together. Everybody knows which side they're on when it comes to bosses and corporations. And banks.

     But TD-Canada Trust wasn't about to let Sudbury set the pace for bank workers in Canada. After losing the fight to prevent the certification, the bank used the modest first contract to attack the union and find soft spots where they could dig in for a decertification drive.

     They found two employees more than happy to help. While the union was working on a set of demands for the second contract, workers found themselves facing a Labour Board decertification vote in May. Defeating the union was a goal supported by the banking establishment across Canada, and lots of time and money went into the campaign.

     But the workers rallied, and 70% voted to keep their union.  For some, it was as simple as coffee breaks which were never permitted before the union demanded the bank obey Ontario's labour laws. For others, it was the lies about the pension plan - a defined benefit plan - which the bank told workers they didn't need to buy back. "They lied and lied to us."

     Local 2020 tabled their contract demands for $1.50 raise across the board in a three-year contract, a pension and benefits package, and an end to the salary caps that leave many workers earning $30,000 or less after 30 years. The average bank teller, handling millions of dollars every year, is paid between $11 and $14 an hour. If s/he works 30 years, s/he'll get $15. Many won't even get that. More than half of the workers are "casual" or part-time, after working for 10, 20, or 30 years. That's another reason why workers are willing to fight, and strike if need be.

     Their boss, on the other hand, the CEO of TD Canada Trust, makes $12 million a year, plus options.

     The company responded with an offer of 35 cents over three years. The workers hit the bricks running in early June, and haven't looked back. The bank is telling the media that they're ready to negotiate anytime, but the union can't get them near the bargaining table.

     It seems the bankers are in the big comfy chair, waiting out the workers, and aiming to bust their union. But they've underestimated these women and men, who have dug in for the long haul.

     On the picket lines, they describe themselves by their job titles (you suddenly feel like you should be sitting up straight filling out a form), but don't be deceived. They've found a little bit of power during this two-year battle. It's the power of the many, united, organized, and in struggle. And they have friends. A lot of them: the miners' unions of USWA and CAW, the public sector unions, the Labour Council, OFL and CLC. The public is supporting them. Horns are honking and the donuts are arriving, with cold drinks 'cause it's hot. Picket signs, shorts, and hats. Eight bank branches, eight picket sites.

     This is David vs. Goliath. Show your support! Send your greetings and solidarity to Local 2020, USWA, c/o the Sudbury & District Labour Council, 109 Elm St., Sudbury, ON, P3C 1T4.