Paul Moist will deliver a message of solidarity to delegates at the Canadian Auto Workers 2008 Bargaining and Political Action conference in Toronto this week.
After a visit to the CAW line at the GM Canada headquarters in Oshawa Wednesday, June 11 at 8:00 a.m., Moist will speak to convention delegates at 11:30 a.m. at the Sheraton Centre, 123 Queen Street West. Here, CUPE’s national president and a vice-president of the CLC will pledge the full support of CUPE members from coast to coast to stem the tide of job losses in the auto and other manufacturing sectors of Canada’s economy.
Here are the points Moist will cover:
On General Motors:
“You can’t sign a deal, renege on it three weeks later, shut down one of the most productive plants in North America and expect workers to sit back and take it without a fight.”
On mutual CAW/CUPE support:
“You were CUPE’s strongest private sector ally during the Harris years. More recently your economist, Jim Stanford, has been a strong supporter of public services as a member of the City of Toronto’s Blue Ribbon panel. You generously welcome locked-out Journal de Quebec Workers at a conference earlier this year.
CUPE will be there for you as we were with you in Windsor, in Ottawa and often in the past.”
On Trade Deals:
“Two decades into the free trade era it is clear that workers are losing out now,” says Moist, “Harper is negotiating new FTAs with Columbia and Korea. Our government should not be in trade talks with a regime that murders trade unionists or with a country that wants unfettered access to the North American auto market, but runs a closed shop back home. Harper should sit down with labour and begin to talk about an industrial strategy for the 21st century that puts workers first, ahead of corporate tax cuts and phony free trade deals!”
On Labour Unity:
“We need to be together, stick together. As a Labour Movement we cannot afford not to support one another despite our differences. Our movement is worth fighting for.”
Quoting Bob White: “It is not the debate that will hurt us-it’s the silence.”
When Moist visits the Oshawa line Wednesday morning: “We will be with you and we will work with you to defeat those who refuse to help you. Maybe we should start by giving Conservative MPs Colin Carrie and Jim Flaherty a taste of unemployment in the next federal election.”