02) COMMUNISTS DEMAND TAKEOVER OF CATERPILLAR'S ELECTRO-MOTIVE PLANT

TORONTO, Feb. 5, 2012 - The Communist Party of Canada (Ontario) is demanding that the provincial government take over the Electro‑Motive Diesel plant in London, Ontario, owned by the super‑profitable transnational Caterpillar Corporation, immediately seize control of machinery and equipment at the plant, and run the operation as a crown corporation with the existing workforce.  

     Further, the provincial government should hit Caterpillar with the full force of the law for bargaining in bad faith and skirting labour laws with its threat at the opening of negotiations to close the London plant if unionized workers refused a 55% wage cut, followed by the Feb. 3 announcement that the plant was closing. Allowing this company to pull up stakes and depart without a strong and immediate reaction from governments makes a mockery of free collective bargaining and Canadian sovereignty and independence.      The CPC (Ontario) is also demanding the federal government use all of the levers at its command to stop Caterpillar from closing the London plant and moving operations out of Canada, starting with enforcement of every provision in the Investment Canada Act, and recall the $5 million in corporate tax breaks this company received from Harper in 2008. The federal government must act to protect Canadian workers, Canadian jobs and our industrial and manufacturing base, and Canada's sovereignty and independence.

     With quarterly earnings up 58% and record breaking profits reaching an astonishing $5 billion, a big chunk of it connected to the acquisition of Electro‑Motive Diesel, there is absolutely no justification for Caterpillar to close this plant, tossing workers and their families overboard. The only reason for closing the London operation is to re‑open in Muncie, Indiana where union-busting right to work legislation has just been passed, ensuring that workers at the Muncie plant will have no union and will be compelled to work for $16.50 an hour, with few if any benefits or pension.

     This is all about union‑busting, getting around Canada's labour and investment laws, closing down the competition and harvesting EMC's design and tech secrets, increasing Caterpillars already enormous super‑profits and extending its monopoly control over locomotive production and sales in North America.

     We fully support the CAW's decision to occupy Caterpillar's EMC plant in London, in its continuing efforts to protect and defend the interests of EMC workers. 

     Furthermore, this voracious Caterpillar is doing these things, because it can. What's astonishing is that the provincial and federal governments would stand by and let them do it. Provincial Economic Development Minister Brad Duguid's statement that while his thoughts are with the workers, he understands Caterpillar's obligation to its stockholders is enough to demand his resignation.  If he can't tell the difference between the public interest and corporate profits, he should resign now.

     Further, the Premier's belated call on the federal government to do something is little more than a sound bite designed to get the Liberals' minority government - under pressure from the Mayor and people of London and the labour and social justice movements  ‑  off the hook.  They need to do much more than that. The NDP should use its numbers in the Legislature to call for nationalization to stop the Fat Cat and to keep the plant running and the jobs here in Ontario. 

     The Legislature should also adopt plant closure legislation with teeth to force corporations to appear before public tribunals and show just cause before any closure is permitted. The Tribunals should have the legal teeth to stop a closure, levy fines, and even jail terms where warranted.

     Workers' rights to belong to a union (free association) are protected in Canada's Charter of Rights, and must be protected by the province as well as the federal government.

     Provincial Tory leader Tim Hudak is blaming the Liberals' tax policies for the loss, but in fact Ontario's corporate taxes are already well below rates in the US.

     This is not so much about (low) corporate taxes, as it is about Canadian sovereignty, jobs, and workers' rights to a living wage, to benefits and pensions, to belong to a union, and to free collective bargaining. These have all been lost in the US right to work states, and they're under sharp attack right now in Ontario and across Canada.

(The above article is from the February 15-29, 2012, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)