CAW Calls On Province To Protect Worker Severance
Posted March 23, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Frustrated auto workers set their sights on the Ontario labour minister’s office Monday.
They want the province to include measures to protect their severance pay when the budget comes out on Thursday, and so they took their message to the headquarters of Labour Minister Peter Fonseca.
One protester said workers are legally entitled to their severance pay, vacation pay and termination pay, and the ministry must work to ensure those rights are respected by the beleaguered Big Three automakers even if the car companies go bankrupt.
“Things aren’t good. I could be out of a job,” noted GM employee Karen Clark. “There’s talk of bankruptcy. It’s a real fear that it could go under. If there’s no obligation to give me severance pay, as a single mom that really worries me. It’s not just me, I have someone take care of.”
Chrysler and the Canadian Auto Workers union are currently in talks as the March 31st deadline for the automaker to receive billions in government loans looms. Chrysler has threatened to pull its operations out of Canada entirely if adequate employee concessions aren’t made. The car company says the cuts are necessary in order to remain competitive.
The union, for its part, argues that workers aren’t getting the money they’re entitled to when they find themselves out of a job.
Monday’s rally will be followed by another demonstration on Tuesday outside the downtown offices of the Ministry of Labour and a larger rally on Wednesday at Queen’s Park.
