Thorold paper workers show the way
By Steve Kerr
"Save our mill from Bay St. Greed," says the hand-painted sign outside Gallaher Paper Mill in Thorold Ontario.
This sign, and two 50 foot banners hanging from the side of the building leave no doubt that laid off workers at the mill know who their friends are.
Inside the factory, every sign that once said Gallaher, the name of the mill owner, now says CEP, Communications Energy and Paperworkers Union.
The Thorold workers have been occupying their plant for the last two weeks.
The story of the Thorold workers is the story of the new radicalization. It is the story of the growing understanding of workers that the economic system works against them. It is the story of workers turning to direct action, and not waiting for politician's promises.
Banking on Profit
"This plant could be profitable. We should be making money hand over fist." says Norm Smeed, a 26-year veteran of the Thorold Mill, which makes pulp and also wallpaper, a profitable commodity.
Recently, the mill was exporting wallpaper to the USA.
Enter the mill's new owner, the TD Bank, receiver of the newly bankrupted company which ran the plant. It threw out 300 workers and wants to sell off and dismantle the equipment -- despite the fact the mill is perfectly viable -- despite the fact that there have been three offers to purchase and reopen the mill, one put forward by the workers' union, the CEP.
The TD Bank is "considering" them, but will make no statement. The bank would not let the other two bidders talk to the union.
Formerly owned by Noranda, the mill was sold to Mike Gallaher, a private businessman from Atlanta Georgia in 1997.
The deal was highly leveraged -- purchased on credit from the TD Bank. When that credit was called in, the collateral -- the mill -- was slated to be asset-stripped so that TD's vultures could pick over the spoils.
Mike Gallaher played with the TD's money and workers lost their jobs.
That the mill is a profitable enterprise is of no interest to Gallaher or the banks. The mill is counted as "excess capacity" and as such, must be eliminated so that the profit margins of others may go up. The TD Bank has already made more than a billion dollars in profits this year.
Said one worker, "I don't need a billion, all I want is a secure job."
TD was owed approximately $12 million, $3 to $4 million of which was recovered from stock. The current liquidation bid is $3.5 million for the equipment and raw materials at the mill.
Under these economic equations, the lives of the workers, their families and the community are worth nothing. This has both enraged and energized the Thorold workers.
Solidarity
On Saturday October 30 workers and their families held a barbecue and raised over $1200, which will be used to pay for worker's health benefits, discontinued when workers were laid off.
The International Socialists donated an additional $250 collected at a Toronto district-wide public meeting. Members of the Niagara New Democratic Party Youth have also been down to the occupation, and contributed $50.
Messages of solidarity are now coming in from all over the world. The workers are more determined than ever to continue the occupation, because they know they can win.
We must all support the Thorold workers.
To send messages of Solidarity to the workers in Thorold, contact Mike Lambert or Bob Browning at 905-351-1245 Fax all messages of solidarity to 905-680-7391.
One of the Thorold workers drew up a manifesto, a powerful statement of where the Canadian labour movement is at today.
"The CEP family of unions is dedicated and committed to the occupation of paper mills across Canada in a non-violent and non-confrontational manner, achieving superior results for our members, their families and their communities. As a morally responsible Union, we will tirelessly promote the sale, (and continued operation) of plants as opposed to their liquidation. We will not be suppressed by right wing goons or major corporations like the TD Bank or any other anti-labour groups"
The Thorold Paperworkers