Labour Movement Demands Action from Ontario Government in 21-Month Labour Dispute

TORONTO, May 29, 2015 /CNW/ - Prominent labour leaders and striking workers will hold a press conference at Queen's Park on Monday, June 1^st to demand action of Ontario's government in connection with a 21 month labour dispute at a Toronto beer packaging plant.

The strike by United Steelworkers (USW) members against U.S.-based Crown Metal Packaging began in September 2013, when the global manufacturing giant demanded massive concessions from the employees.

With the Legislature on the verge of breaking for the summer, labour leaders and workers are urging Premier Kathleen Wynne and Minister of Labour Kevin Flynn to immediately enact legislation to order binding arbitration as a fair means of ending the dispute at Crown.

WHAT:	Press conference to formally request the enactment of specific legislation imposing binding arbitration to end the long labour dispute at Crown Holdings in Toronto.
WHO:	Hassan Yussuff, President, Canadian Labour Congress
	John Cartwright, President, Toronto & York Region Labour Council Pat Dillon, Business Manager Ontario Building & Construction Trades Council
	Katha Fortier, Ontario Director, UNIFOR
	Scott Travers, President Society of Energy Professionals
	Tony DePaulo, Assistant to USW District 6 Director
	Mark Rowlinson, Assistant to the USW National Director
	USW members on strike at Crown Holdings
WHEN:	Monday, June 1^st, 2015 at 11 a.m.
WHERE:	Queen's Park Media Room

Since provoking the labour dispute in Toronto, Crown has refused to negotiate a fair resolution, instead hiring replacement workers to try to break the strikers. An Industrial Inquiry was ordered over two months ago by Minister of Labour Kevin Flynn, but has yet to bring about a solution to the dispute as the company refuses to move from its union-busting positions, including permanently replacing 75% of the strikers with replacement workers (or scabs) and firing 34 workers without cause.

Since mid-May, Premier Wynne and Minister Flynn have received over 2,000 letters asking them to enact binding arbitration to end the Crown dispute. The clock is ticking, and so far, the government has not acted on the labour movement's demand to stand on the side of Ontario workers by legislating binding arbitration in this dispute. It is believed that failure to enact the legislation in the next week will prolong the dispute and the workers' suffering into the summer and beyond.

For more information on the dispute and the request for binding arbitration, see:

www.bottlesnotcans.ca

SOURCE United Steelworkers (USW)

John Cartwright, President, Toronto & York Region Labour Council, 416-999-5663, [email protected]; Angela Zhu, Labour Council Media Relations, 647-232-7427 [email protected]; Alexandra Eshelman, USW Strategic Campaigns, 416-544-5968, 416-570-9984, [email protected]