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Train stopped in support of CAW Local 27

The conductor of a train carrying Caterpillar machinery hit an unexpected roadblock Wednesday morning while traveling through Ingersoll. Protestors from Canadian Auto Workers union Locals 27 and 88 obstructed the train tracks in front of the Caterpillar locomotive early in the morning and, as of press time, have yet to budge.

This blockade came hot on the heels of a large Day of Action rally held last Saturday, when thousands of supporters gathered in Victoria Park to protest the lockout of Electro-Motive workers by Caterpillar. Caterpillar, the American company who had recently purchased the Electro-Motive plant, locked the workers of CAW Local 27 out after they rejected an almost 50 per cent salary cut along with reduced benefits.

“We’re doing this as a show of solidarity with our brothers and sisters in CAW Local 27,” Daniel Bosworth, president of CAW Local 88, explained.

Bosworth mentioned the blockade has another purpose—to send a message to Caterpillar. Since the lockout, Caterpillar has walked away from the bargaining table and has instituted a media blackout.

“We’re telling Caterpillar that they need to get back to the table and bargain with the Local 27 bargaining unit and come to a reasonable resolution to this lockout,” he said.

Ingersoll police have been in frequent communication with the protestors, but have not attempted to remove them from the tracks.

“We’ve been in conversation with the police all day and we’ve had a very good dialogue with them,” Bosworth said.

“They’ve just asked that we don’t block the tracks for the through trains and they understand the issues at hand, they’re aware of our situation. They just come and go as things happen.”

According to Bob Scott, chairperson of CAW Local 27, the protest has the support of all the local unions in the area, and people on the tracks are not solely from the manufacturing industry.

“Every local union right now is supporting us. If I contact any of them, I know they’ll be down to help support us. We even have the nurses from Ingersoll down here,” Scott said.

Bosworth also noted no one at the barricade was worried about the personal danger of parking themselves on active train tracks.

“The members here are worried about Canada—that’s what we’re worried about, and that’s why we’re here,” he said.

“Sometimes you have to stand up and be accounted for, and that’s what we’re doing right here.”

Scott hoped the protest would act as a wake-up call for the federal government to step in, but couldn’t comment as to whether he thought Prime Minister Stephen Harper would take the hint.

“Whether Mr. Harper decides to take action and force the company back to work would be the question, but I don’t really know if the government in going to get involved or what’s going to happen with this,” he said.

Scott went on to argue that the federal government should have taken a closer look into the legality of Caterpillar’s acquisition of Electro-Motive.

“Had the [federal government] done their due diligence and actually looked deeper into the sale of this agreement, I don’t think we’d be having this discussion today,” he said.

“I think the Canadian government would have stepped in by now and told them that you can’t just come in and buy companies and decide that you’re going to offer 50 per cent wages.”

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