Media Advisory - Global Support for Massive Rally in Quebec, March 31

TORONTO, March 27, 2012 /CNW/ - Supporters from across Canada and around the world will join working families in Alma, Que., for a massive rally to denounce resource giant Rio Tinto's attacks on the community's economic future.

The March 31 demonstration will protest Rio Tinto Alcan's unprecedented lockout of 780 workers at Alma's aluminum smelter, the community's main employer. Rio Tinto locked out workers in late December in an attempt to impose concessions that would include the permanent elimination of quality jobs at the Alma smelter.

WHAT:	Massive rally to support locked-out Rio Tinto Alcan workers.
WHEN:	March 31, 2012
WHO:	Workers and labour leaders from across Canada and around the world.
WHERE:	Alma, Quebec.

The March 31 rally will feature international labour leaders whose unions and federations are supporting the locked-out Quebec workers, including the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), and the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF). ICEM and IMF leaders, who represent 50 million workers worldwide, also will hold a joint meeting in Alma on March 30.

The locked-out workers in Alma are represented by Local 9490 of the United Steelworkers (USW)/Syndicat des Métallos.

"These workers and their families are receiving support from all over the globe from unions and working people opposed to the destructive practices of giant multinationals," said Ken Neumann, USW National Director for Canada.

"Attacks against workers and jobs are multiplying. Next weekend in Alma we will discuss strategies for standing together and responding to multinationals that are impoverishing entire regions for the short-term benefit of shareholders."

Ken Neumann, USW National Director for Canada, 416-544-5950
Joe Drexler, USW Strategic Campaigns, 416-544-6009, 416 434 7907 (c), [email protected]
Clairandrée Cauchy, Syndicat des Métallos, 514-774-4001, [email protected]