If London's Electro-Motive plant is closed and its jobs moved to Indiana, it'll be after having milked the benefits of a billion-dollar tax break once trumpeted on the plant floor by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Three years ago, Harper donned protective goggles and posed with workers to chat up how his government had created a $1-billion tax break for industry broadly and a $5-million break to grease the wheels for sales by the locomotive-maker.
"Ontario is the heart, it is still the engine of the Canadian economy," Harper said then. "There's no reason the Ontario economy can't be as strong as the economy in any other part of this country."
Harper wasn't talking Thursday, as many of those same workers faced off with a company now owned by Caterpillar Inc. that seemingly wants to slash wages and benefits by more than half or close the 61-year-old facility.
While a Harper spokesperson said she'd seek a comment from him, the task of answering was delegated to an Industry Canada spokesperson.
"It would be inappropriate for Industry Canada to comment on this matter until the future of the plant is more clear," Stefanie Power wrote to The Free Press.
There was no such hesitation from the union boss representing workers now kept away from the plant by a fence and hired security.
Canadian Auto Workers president Ken Lewenza says Harper shouldn't offer mega-tax breaks without getting something in return: A commitment not to take the money and leave.
"If it's only the carrot and they leave, you have to ask yourself, what kind of sanity is this?" Lewenza said.
The Conservative government's budget in 2008 created tax breaks to benefit industry generally and Electro-Motive in particular:
- All industry would be allowed to deduct from taxes owed a greater percentage of new assets, a break which was expected to cost Ottawa $1 billion by the end of 2011.
- Buyers of locomotives could deduct a greater share of their cost, a break estimated to be more than $5 million.
Months later, Electro-Motive sold 40 locomotives to CN Rail.
Lewenza has challenged Harper to come to London and explain what safeguards, if any, were put in place to keep Electro-Motive in the city. There's been no response.
The silence is concerning, Lewenza said, because it's clear the parent company that of the plant, U.S.-based equipment giant Caterpillar Inc., has no interest in settling a labour dispute that will lead to a lockout or strike after the workers' contract expires at midnight Saturday.
"They got taxpayers' support, Harper visited the plant and yet today (the federal government) won't play any role," Lewenza said.
Where Harper once stood on the plant floor is now emptied of more than 500 unionized workers, kept away by a newly-erected fence and paid security. The future of the 61-year-old factory seems very much in doubt.
Ownership of the plant has changed too, sold by Greenbriar Equity Group to Progress Rail, a subsidiary of Caterpillar, a company with a lengthy history of fighting unions and moving plants to lower-cost jurisdictions.
Lewenza wants to know if the federal government placed conditions on the sale to keep the plant in London, but the prime minister hasn't said.
Union officials say Progress Rail's final offer would slash wages to $16.50 from $35 an hour and also cut benefits, a claim consistent with a company memo obtained by The Free Press.
Company officials haven't agreed to be interviewed, issuing a statement through a public relations firm that called the final offer, "fair, reasonable and market-competitive."
Headquartered in La Grange, Ill., Progress Rail last year dusted off an abandoned factory in Muncie, Ind. where it has begun to produce locomotives for mass transit.
About 700 people in total work at the London plant.
Original Article
Source: if Press
Three years ago, Harper donned protective goggles and posed with workers to chat up how his government had created a $1-billion tax break for industry broadly and a $5-million break to grease the wheels for sales by the locomotive-maker.
"Ontario is the heart, it is still the engine of the Canadian economy," Harper said then. "There's no reason the Ontario economy can't be as strong as the economy in any other part of this country."
Harper wasn't talking Thursday, as many of those same workers faced off with a company now owned by Caterpillar Inc. that seemingly wants to slash wages and benefits by more than half or close the 61-year-old facility.
While a Harper spokesperson said she'd seek a comment from him, the task of answering was delegated to an Industry Canada spokesperson.
"It would be inappropriate for Industry Canada to comment on this matter until the future of the plant is more clear," Stefanie Power wrote to The Free Press.
There was no such hesitation from the union boss representing workers now kept away from the plant by a fence and hired security.
Canadian Auto Workers president Ken Lewenza says Harper shouldn't offer mega-tax breaks without getting something in return: A commitment not to take the money and leave.
"If it's only the carrot and they leave, you have to ask yourself, what kind of sanity is this?" Lewenza said.
The Conservative government's budget in 2008 created tax breaks to benefit industry generally and Electro-Motive in particular:
- All industry would be allowed to deduct from taxes owed a greater percentage of new assets, a break which was expected to cost Ottawa $1 billion by the end of 2011.
- Buyers of locomotives could deduct a greater share of their cost, a break estimated to be more than $5 million.
Months later, Electro-Motive sold 40 locomotives to CN Rail.
Lewenza has challenged Harper to come to London and explain what safeguards, if any, were put in place to keep Electro-Motive in the city. There's been no response.
The silence is concerning, Lewenza said, because it's clear the parent company that of the plant, U.S.-based equipment giant Caterpillar Inc., has no interest in settling a labour dispute that will lead to a lockout or strike after the workers' contract expires at midnight Saturday.
"They got taxpayers' support, Harper visited the plant and yet today (the federal government) won't play any role," Lewenza said.
Where Harper once stood on the plant floor is now emptied of more than 500 unionized workers, kept away by a newly-erected fence and paid security. The future of the 61-year-old factory seems very much in doubt.
Ownership of the plant has changed too, sold by Greenbriar Equity Group to Progress Rail, a subsidiary of Caterpillar, a company with a lengthy history of fighting unions and moving plants to lower-cost jurisdictions.
Lewenza wants to know if the federal government placed conditions on the sale to keep the plant in London, but the prime minister hasn't said.
Union officials say Progress Rail's final offer would slash wages to $16.50 from $35 an hour and also cut benefits, a claim consistent with a company memo obtained by The Free Press.
Company officials haven't agreed to be interviewed, issuing a statement through a public relations firm that called the final offer, "fair, reasonable and market-competitive."
Headquartered in La Grange, Ill., Progress Rail last year dusted off an abandoned factory in Muncie, Ind. where it has begun to produce locomotives for mass transit.
About 700 people in total work at the London plant.
Original Article
Source: if Press
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