The Communist Party stands in full solidarity with the 250 workers at Windsor Salt who have been on strike since February 17th. As the strike enters its 14th week, we demand the company bargain in good faith and immediately cease their tactics of intimidation, union busting and the use of scab labour.
Workers at Windsor Salt, organized by Unifor locals 240 and 1959, are now bargaining with Stone Canyon Industries, a hedge fund that bought Windsor Salt in 2021 and now owns much of the salt industry in North America. The US-based hedge fund demanded major concessions before any monetary amounts were to be negotiated, including the outsourcing of union jobs. Workers recognized that this was an existential threat to their union, wages and working conditions and walked out in February. Since that time the employer has used scab labour and tactics that include the hiring of private investigators to try and intimidate the workers. Police have also engaged in intimidation tactics by arresting 13 workers on the line for blocking trucks.
The union-busting tactics of Stone Canyon Industries demonstrates the immediate need for an expansion of labour rights in Ontario, especially anti-scab laws, bankruptcy protection for workers, card check union certification and a Labour Bill of Rights to protect the right to organize, free collective bargaining, picket and strike for all workers. While the Ford government and Minister Monte McNaughton continue to claim to be “working for workers”, in fact the Ontario government continues to facilitate attacks against the working people of Ontario by transnational corporate monopolies such as Stone Canyon Industries.
Windsor Salt is the latest example of the corporate attacks on union jobs by increasingly financialized multinational corporations. We demand that Canada withdraw from the USMCA and other corporate “free trade” deals that enshrine the rights of transnational capital while rolling back sovereignty, democracy and labour rights. The profits of corporate monopolies have skyrocketed along with the prices of food, fuel and rent, while wages have fallen far behind inflation. We demand immediate government action to roll back prices and raise wages. It is no coincidence that employers are stepping up their attacks on unions and wages across the country as working people struggle to put food on the table and pay the rent. The attack on the workers of Windsor Salt must be beaten back. An injury to one is an injury to all!
