In commemorating African Heritage Month, February, the Canadian Labour Congress and the Truro & District Labour Council acknowledge the positive community contributions People of African origin made in our unions, communities, Canada and throughout the world. Truro has lots of people from the black community who have made their community proud and many, many people look to them as a role model. The celebration of African Heritage Month is an opportunity for the labour movement to highlight issues affecting Canadians of African Heritage and People of Colour such us access to jobs, education, housing and pensions. We also use the month to highlight the importance of building union solidarity and increasing our strength by fighting together on anti-racism, social and economic issues.

  This year the Canadian Labour Congress has produced stamps and posters to commemorate African Heritage Month. The image on the stamps and posters combines the face of Harriet Tubman, who brought slaves to freedom in Canada on the Underground Railway, with Andikra symbols of Asante people of Ghana, West Africa. The symbols convey short proverbs about ethics, culture, and human relations. Posters and stamps are available free of charge from the CLC Women's and Human Rights Department, 2841 Riverside Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K1V 8X7. Or by contacting to us at the Truro & District Labour Council.

  In his address to the 1970 Canadian Labour Congress Convention in Edmonton, the great orator Tommy Douglas, said: In the labour movement you are learning the great lesson that no organization can live unto itself, you are learning that we are our brother's and sister's keeper, that we have to battle, not just for ourselves and for our memberships, we have to battle on behalf of humanity. We have to be prepared to see that wherever there are people hungry, I cannot be full; wherever people are in jail, I cannot be free; wherever there are people oppressed, I cannot be at ease. Certainly, it is of mutual benefit to all of us to strive for the all-round well being of our workforce and of our society as a whole. The advancement of the human family - women, men and children - is what our concern for human rights is all about. Equality, social justice and dignity for all, are the underpinnings of this concern. At the same time, we recognize that some members of the human family more than others, have been and continue to be victimized by racism, sexism and discrimination and these problems deserve special attention. Groups and individuals still feel alienated from the mainstream of Canadian society. The systemic barriers that confront women, Indigenous Peoples, ethnic and racial minorities, persons with disabilities, new immigrants, ethnic races, and so on, sadly persists today.

  No single group is strong enough, by itself, to combat racism, sexism, homophobia, harassment, prejudices and discrimination and to bring about social justice. Today, we are living in a time of great economic uncertainty. Whatever you want to call it - depression, recession, stagnation, jobs are being cut back and unemployment is high. It is a dangerous time in terms of human rights. When jobs are threatened, when there is high unemployment, people tend to look for scapegoats, for someone to blame. It is the determination of the privileged to maintain their hold on political and economic power which creates the willingness to destroy, to cause suffering, and to repudiate others' humanity. The struggle to stop it is a struggle to break that fierce hold on power by cruel and narrow interests. The trade union movement in Canada has fought to build a society in which all Canadians could have equality of opportunity, the economic security and social well being required to enjoy fundamental rights. This task remains unfinished despite many achievements in the past. Our efforts have focused mainly on gaining a measure of economic security for our members and by extension, all working people.

  Through the levers of collective bargaining and legislative reform, we have improved wages and working conditions, we have also played a significant role in developing and preserving medicare as well as community health centres, affordable housing, the cooperative movement, a variety of social welfare measures and human rights legislation across this country. Each of these progressive initiatives has contributed to a fairer, more compassionate society and the protection of human rights. It must be remembered, as one reads history, that each of the major advances in human rights law was achieved at considerable human cost. The people waging the struggle were dedicated, tenacious and courageous.  These and many men and women like them had to make the case for legislation forcefully because the concept of laws to protect people from discrimination were not popular. The labour movement can be proud of its record in relation to human rights. But now is no time to rest on our laurels. Until all women, men and children in Canada and around the world can genuinely feel a part of a large human family which enjoys peace, freedom and justice, our efforts must not end

  Today it has been one month since the workers at the Rothsay rendering plant have been out on strike. You have to admire these guys for being out in the cold the rain and snow fighting for what they believe in. Together they are standing strong fighting large corporations for a share of the pie. Did you know as of 1996 Maple Leaf owes over 8 million in-deferred taxes according to the book “Unfair Shares”? This is a book on corporations and taxation in Canada. The book also list H. Harrison McCain and G Wallace McCain as one of the 50 richest Canadians at $1.2Billion, they are listed as owning McCain Foods and Maple Leaf Foods.

  To date this Rothsay strike has seen some local business people crossing the picket line. When we analyze the big picture, well they are only hurting themselves. I can say for a fact that if these scabs continue to cross the legal picket line then their business names will be published as scabs to the public. In fairness they will be notified and offered a chance to stop crossing and prolonging the strike. That’s what they are doing; they are actually prolonging things for themselves and the striking workers. In reality the company by asking people to scab and cross a legal picket line are actually pitting local workers against one and other. Do we really think people from Ontario or where ever, really care about this. On one hand we have workers fighting for better working conditions and on the other hand we have scabs who are working, likely for less, likely without benefits, and likely in worse working conditions.  I don’t understand how people can do this scab work when the see, in my opinion, how poorly Rothsay treats its own workers. Workers who have put in years of service to make the company what it is today. We can’t blame the workers if Rothsay didn’t put any dollars back into the plant over the years. Do these scab workers really think they will be treated any better in the long run? All they are doing is making bad friends with neighbors, old school chums and buddies. Do they need the money that bad? And is it really worth losing friends over. 

  Then we have the company spending big time for services usually done in house when they say they haven’t any money? The company loves scabs because they use them to their advantage to break unions and keep workers on their knees. Scabs are what keep wages low and working conditions poor for a lot of employees. Scabs are what lead to violent situations during strikes when workers are pitted against each other in communities. The strikers are allowing scabs through the legal picket line to date and we all have to admire this action. Some of the contractor’s workers just won’t cross the line because they know these guys. They know them at the hockey rink; they see them at church, and the gym, around town and at the malls and schools, which their children attend. Top gun negotiators from far and away don’t understand small towns like Truro and the effect this could have if things aren’t settled soon. They likely don’t have any friends?

On the other hand these strikers are the people in your community. They belong to clubs like the Lions and Kinsman to parent teacher groups, music groups and other volunteer organizations in the community. Like it or not they are a big part of the community and I think the community should become a big part of this strike. The community should tell Maple Leaf and Rothsay to be reasonable with its workers and community. When profits are up then its time to share the wealth with the workers. For to long have workers been held down and watched profits soar in many corporations such as Maple Leaf. The banks are another prime example of this corporate greed we live with today. Local unions like the CAW, CUPE, the NSGEU, as well as others are getting geared up to stand behind these workers through thick and thin. Food drives are all ready underway and plans are in the works to keep this issue in the fore front. Local scabs, Mr. Markwood and his counterparts at Rothsay better start and understand something in Truro. The local labour movement is fairly quiet and a loving bunch. We get our issues out and I think for the most part we are reasonable and fair. All we ask is that employers be reasonable and fair back. I don’t think this is a lot to ask. If this strike continues on for much longer then the business scabs crossing the line may be picketed in the future if they don’t stop crossing the legal picket line at the Rothsay Plant. These businesses must support these workers to have an end to this strike. Local unions have been briefed on the situation or soon will be and support is building. Soon all locals affiliated to the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour will be made aware of this strike. How many workers do you think we can bring in for surprise pickets at who knows where or when. Is your business crossing a legal picket line?  As they say, All is fair in love and war. People can write Rothsay and let them know how you feel about the strike by writing to Rothsay, at P.O. Box 8270, Dundus Ontario L9H-5G1 C/O  Chris Markwood the Vice president of Operations for Rothsay , which is a division of Maple Leaf Foods. The phone number is (905) 628-2258 or fax them at (905) 628-0709    

Labour Views: January 15, 2000 : 

By Danny Cavanagh

What Happened to J.R. at the Rothsay Bargaining Table

The big question the media should be asking these days is what happened to J.R. at the Rothsay negotiations. He successfully pulled together contracts for these local workers for the last 10 or so years. Seems Maple Leaf and the MaCains just may be up to some good old union busting tactics, or at least that’s my read on the situation. Now I don’t know about you but this smells to be a bit like rotten eggs on the company’s part? Mr Ritchie is a local boy who has had his hand in the local rendering plant for some time. The boys and him seemed to get along fairly well and cool heads always came out on top in past bargaining unit talks. Yes there were a few scuffles and the guys would brush that off and go back to work. My point is this, when JR was doing the talking things went fairly good. He knew the people he was talking too he knew them in the local community and he realized their dedication to their employment with the company.

  Now we have someone who doesn’t know them so well or the community so well talking. I guess that’s the companies business if they wish to bring in top brass from outside and operate this way, but I have my own opinion on what kind of operation they like to run. There are just so many questions here that need answers. Why can they bring in people from outside the province to do the work? Since Nova Scotia has no Anti Scab legislation then they can! But isn’t that taking local paychecks away from local workers. Does this help the local business people? Can we send workers from Nova Scotia to Quebec to work? Not on your life. Ask Maple Leaf how much their profits were at the end of June 1999. Well I will tell you what they said in their own news release issued by the company last fall. The headline on their own media release reads like this, “Maple leaf Foods Announces Record Second Quarter Earnings: Sales up 9% Operating Earnings up 88%.”  Nice offer to the local workers guys, Zero, Zero and ZERO yes three fat zeros in the first three years. Net earnings for the quarter were $23.3 Million, now that’s how to share the wealth, keep it all for yourself and the heck with those who made the money for you.

  Maple Leaf just happens to own Shur-Gain and I hear they have gone so far is to tell some local business operators if they don’t cross the picket line then they will lose work at other Maple Leaf operations like Shur-Gain. I guess you will have to decide if this is true or not, but we all know how rumors get started. As a comparison for you we can compare the difference between the Truro Plant and the Rothsay Moorefield plant. This is the plant that was offered little in wages also and as I understand it because of this the company suggested the Truro plant should be handed the same wage offer. Even though Mr. Markwood says that they are top paid in Truro and tries to make a few be the rule when it may be the exception. Laborers in the Truro plant gets about $10.80 most local factories pay more. The Rothsay Moorefield plant pays its laborers $17.19. These guys wouldn’t be on strike if the company compared them fairly with its own similar plants. After all if the can compare what the give as increases with this plant then its only fair these workers compare their wages and benefits with those same plants. These companies can’t have their cake and eat it to. Lets face it how many of us would work in the Truro Rothsay Plant. The stench is bad enough miles form it in the summer so what’s it like working in it all day.  These guys tell me they even had to buy their own water to drink?

  Maple Leaf reported sales for the second quarter of 1999 of $896 Million up from $822 Million and sales of $1.77 Billion up from $1.56 Billion an increase of 13%. Maybe you can believe they can’t afford to fix the plant and offer decent wage increases to these local workers. I say the company news release last fall tells quite a different story. Maybe we should give them a government handout to help them along on the $700,000 thousand dollars of work they say the local Pant needs, rather then see the workers have to fund this work and go with little. I see it this way, someone made the profits for the company and it wasn’t the MacCain boys who climbed in and out of the trucks or worked cooking left over animal parts to make it, was it?  Maybe its time we all demanded that profitable corporations give a return on profits back to those who made the profits. Profits and shareholders seem to want it all and it seems they are willing to drive people into the ground to get it. What ever happen to our society anyway and thank god some of us will stand up to the top guns and demand better when we prove we have done better for them.