[Mayworks-org] Crisis in Manufacturing Jobs

[The Bullet]

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin .... No. 50... June 1, 2007
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The Crisis in Manufacturing Jobs: Struggling for Answers 

Labour Committee, Socialist Project

The last weeks of May have seen major demonstrations of workers' discontent
with the crisis that has been unfolding in Canada's manufacturing sector.
Some 52,000 jobs have been lost in the manufacturing sector since January
alone. The demonstrations were kicked off on May 23 by protests by the USW
at nine plants, as part of its 'Jobs Worth Fighting For' campaign linked to
the Ontario Federation of Labour. The USW actions included plant
occupations, notably at doormaker Masonite, which is shutting down its
Mississauga plant to move its production to US facilities with the loss of
300 jobs. 

In Windsor nearly 40,000 turned out on May 27 from unions and the wider
community to protest the loss of manufacturing jobs and the economic crisis
that has been besetting Windsor. The demonstration was led by the CAW
locals, but also included support from other unions, such as CUPE, the
teachers' unions, and the Chatham-Kent District Labour Council. The
demonstrators marched from several Windsor streets and converged at the
Ford Test Track. Remarkably, the demonstration was larger than the October
17, 1997 Days of Action area general strike against the neoliberal policies
of the then provincial government of Mike Harris. The demonstration was
followed by another in Oshawa the same day by General Motors workers and
the local community.

And on May 30th, the Canadian Labour Congress and affiliated unions brought
several thousand angry workers out to Parliament Hill as part of their
'Made in Canada Jobs' campaign (at
http://canadianlabour.ca/index.php/made_in_canada_jobs). The CLC-led
demonstration focused on the impacts of the high Canadian dollar - now at
about 93 cents to the US dollar - and the impact of NAFTA and proposed
trade deals with countries like South Korea.  

Up to this point, there has been a near complete absence of either union or
political action. What has unfolded is predominantly a series of union
concessions, government subsidies, calls for opening East Asian markets for
North American exports and demands for improved severance for laid-off
workers. Both the provincial and federal governments have almost completely
withdrawn from active industrial policies. They have focused on cutting
wage, social and tax costs for capital, even further accelerating the rate
of tax write-offs for new capital investment and expanding free trade
agreements, including the project of deep integration with the USA.

It is clear that the crisis in the Canadian manufacturing sector is
intertwined with the larger neoliberal policies that have come to dominate
politics and the impasse of the union and socialist movements. The protests
by workers over the past weeks illustrate well the deep-seated
frustrations.
And they allow for wider debate about the campaigns and politics that will
need to develop. These are, in our view, quite dependent on a sustained
period of union renewal and the formation of new organizational and
political capacities within the socialist movement.    

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The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), spurred on by initiatives from the
Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), United Steelworkers (USW) and Communications,
Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP), has moved to place Canada's
devastating loss of manufacturing jobs on the national agenda. This
initiative is significant for a number of reasons. 

. To begin with, it asserts that the problem manufacturing workers face is
more than cyclical; the problem will remain even if the economy
'strengthens'. 

. In addition, the campaign extends to all of manufacturing, not just any
particular sector, and so holds out the prospect - already too-long delayed
- of building bridges across unions. 

. And by looking to build strength in the community as well as the
workplace, the campaign addresses a crucial mobilizing space which unions
have so far not sufficiently or adequately addressed.  

Judging from the CAW, where the campaign has, by spring 2007, been more
developed, the enthusiastic membership response seems to have breathed some
new life and hope into the union. It is clear that a good many local
leaders, disheartened with the never-ending demands of concessions and
frustrated with waiting for the next corporate threat or devastating
announcement, have been anxious for such fightback campaigns.

But will the campaigns deliver? The most recent attacks on jobs and working
conditions are not new; corporations and governments have, over the past
three decades, radically stepped up their aggressiveness. Yet, no
counter-response has to date emerged from Canadian unions to match that
corporate radicalism.  If we do not convincingly show that we are not going
to keep taking this; if we do not lead a fundamental challenge to how the
potential of our country is used; if we do not build a campaign broad
enough
and powerful enough to actually compel Canada's corporate and political
elites into making concessions to us - then we should not be surprised that
tomorrow offers only more of the same.  

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