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Caterpillar pulls plug on London plant

The relentless push by global corporations to slash costs has eliminated the jobs of about 450 people in London, Ont., who had been locked out of their Caterpillar Inc. (CAT-N113.943.613.27%) workplace since Jan. 1 in a high-profile and bitter dispute.

Caterpillar’s Progress Rail Services unit is ceasing operations at the city’s Electro-Motive Canada diesel locomotive factory, two months after Canadian Auto Workers president Ken Lewenza said company officials assured him they had no intention of closing the plant.

Joint commission consisted of city brunch of Agro-Industrial Workers’ Union (AIWU), St-Petersburg Regional Unions’ Federation, State Labour Inspection and district prosecutor’s office claim that prosecution of Heineken workers who went on a one-day warning strike on 15 December 2011 was illegal. While an act was issued to reverse penalties imposed on 4 strikers, other 25 cases are still to be examined.

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January 24, unions of Carlsberg’s “Baltika” breweries in Russia held demonstrations at factories’ gates to say “No” to the ongoing destruction of permanent jobs and the pressure management puts on union activists. Recently Rostov-on-Don city court was examining a case of Eugeni Bykadorov, member of “NovoProf” union, who was unfairly dismissed from “Baltika-Rostov” plant after he refused to withdraw his complaint about unpaid overtimes he submitted alongside with other workers to State Labour Inspection despite managers’ intimidation.

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Grenada, an island in the southeastern Caribbean Sea, can be heaven for tourists but Grenada Breweries Company turned it into a hell for workers as 125 of them were locked out just before the Christmas on December 19, 2011.

Workers of the Grenada Breweries Ltd (a company owned by ANSA McAL) and their IUF affiliated Grenada Technical & Allied Workers' Union are involved in a struggle for the rights of these locked out workers for the past 42 days.

Read on or you can click here to send a protest to the company: http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/campaigns/show_campaign.cgi?c=647

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For over three years, workers of Heineken brewery in St-Petersburg and their unions affiliated to the IUF's Agro-Industrial Workers Union of Russia and Union of Food, Tobacco, Services and Allied Workers "Solidarnost" have been seeking negotiations to limit the extent of agency labour on the site and manipulation with the work time calculation which leads to almost no overtime being paid.

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LONDON, ONT — A crowd of more than 10,000 descended upon this city’s Victoria Park to support local workers who have been locked out of their jobs since the new year. They came from all over, from Timmins, Sudbury, and Pennsylvania in scores of buses. They came to protest corporate greed and Stephen Harper.

The prime minister didn’t come, although he was invited.

“We need you down here to support Canadian workers,” yelled London Mayor Joe Fontana. “Get your ass down here!”

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Brewery transnational Carlsberg is attacking trade union rights in Lithuania with the support of the country's legal system, which has declared beer production an "essential service".

On June 10 last year members of the IUF-affiliated Lithuanian Trade Union of Food Producers (LPMS) voted in favour of strike action at the Carlsberg brewery in Lithuania in support of their demand for a decent company-level collective agreement.

Click here to send a message; http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/campaigns/show_campaign.cgi?c=643

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Amsterdam – 14 December 2011 – HEINEKEN N.V. announced today the intention to increase its shareholding in Brasserie Nationale d’Haiti S.A. (‘Brana’), the country’s leading brewer, from 22.5% to 95%. The shares are currently owned by Brana’s management and private shareholders. Financial details are not disclosed.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed and consolidated in January 2012. HEINEKEN expects the acquisition to be earnings accretive from January 2012 and value enhancing in the first year after completion.

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London - The fence is up and the question now being asked is: "What next?" Despite the Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) plant having a long history in London, Ontario, there are fears in this Southwestern Ontario community of losing the large, successful plant.
In a city struggling with one of the highest unemployment rates (9.8 percent) for a city its size in Canada, the loss of yet another major industry would be a hard blow to the area economy.
Progress Rail Services, a subsidiary of giant Caterpillar Inc., is threatening to close the 61-year-old locomotive manufacturing plant unless employees accept a pay-cut of more than 50 percent in some cases. Bob Scott, plant chair, confirmed to Digital Journal that the company's latest offer would slash wages to $16.50 from $35 an hour. The bargaining committee has rejected the offer and Friday a strike vote will be held. The workers are represented by the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW).
Union members, fearing the company may attempt to move valuable, core equipment from the London plant, have been watching the facility 24-hours a day since last Friday. Where would the equipment go? EMD employees with whom Digital Journal spoke believe a plant recently opened in Muncie, Indiana would be the logical destination.
Muncie may be located in the United States but it is a city becoming known for its third world wages. "The lower wages offered in London still top what's paid at Progress Rail's refurbished plant in Muncie, Ind., where workers make as little as $12 an hour," according to Jonathan Sher of The London Free Press.
According to the Working Poor Families Project, Indiana ranks 27th among American States when it comes to jobs in occupations offering pay below the poverty line. There's a good reason why Caterpillar picked the rust belt city of Muncie for its latest American plant. Skilled workers are available there for unskilled worker wages