> Strikers occupy PC World plant > CAW members vow to stay until contract is signed and 8-month walkout ends > > By Susan Bourette > The Globe and Mail > > TORONTO - Nearly 100 striking workers barricaded themselves in PC World's > main plant in Toronto yesterday, hoping to force an end to an eight-month > strike in which the computer parts maker has been found to be bargaining > in bad faith. > Members of the Canadian Auto Workers union, who have been on > strike since early January, stormed the plant early yesterday and vowed > to continue the occupation until a collective agreement has been signed. > "They've been using every trick in the book to make sure that we > don't get an agreement here," said Bob Cernicki, a union spokesman. > "What they're trying to do is bust the union, and damn it, we're not > going to let them do it." > Hundreds of unionists from surrounding communities picketed the > plant in support of the striking PC World workers. The company, which > makes circuit boards for companies such as Honeywell Inc., Northern > Telecom Ltd. And Celestica Inc., has hired 140 replacement workers. > PC World, a division of Toronto-based Circuit World Corp., said > in a press release that the plant's occupation contravenes a court order > that limits the number of pickets at the plant to 24. The company said > it has been granted an emergency hearing before the Ontario Court of > Appeal to try to have the order enforced. > The company declined to comment further. A recorded message at > PC World's headquarters said its telephone lines are temporarily out of > service. > Wage rollbacks and concessions sought by the company have been > the major stumbling blocks between union and employer. Workers, who have > been without a contract since December, initially asked for wage > increases of about 40 cents an hour, but recently told the company they > would agree to wage freezes over the life of a three-year deal. > The CAW said the average wage for PC World's production workers > was $12 an hour before the strike. It said the company wants to roll > back 43 employee's wages by between 10 cents and $4.78 an hour. > The Ontarion Labour Relations Board ruled in July that PC World > had "breached its duty to bargain in good faith by failing to meet with > the union to bargain for a new collective agreement" and by tabling an > inadequate proposal in April. > The union agreed to wage freezes when the company sought > bankruptcy protection in 1995. In its ruling, the labour board said the > company is now "doing well [and] it is therefore difficult to see how the > employer can maintain that it must, for financial reasons, seek the > concessions it is seeking." > Some union members charged that the company is pushing to > decertify the CAW at the plant under new labour legislation. Under > Ontario's new laws, a union can be decertified if a walkout stretches > beyond 12 months. > Eduaardo Luna, a striking worker employed by the company for the > past 10 years, said his family has been having difficulty making ends > meet on the $175 he receives in strike pay each week. He was last making > $14 an hour. His wife, a nurse, was laid off in April. > "We work like an animal inside there," Mr. Luna said, gesturing > toward the brown brick building. "We're tightening our belts, but it's > really hard for my wife and kids to live like this." > Mr. Luna said many of the striking workers have failed to find > jobs elsewhere because employers are concerned that they might try to > form a union in their shops. > By late yesterday, there had been no violence at the plant and no > arrests. Police monitored the occupation throughout the day. > >
