 |
 |
|
Striking Machinists illegally detained on bus by OPP to prevent information picket
|
||
| For Immediate Release TILLSONBURG – Dave Ritchie, Canadian Vice President of the International Association of Machinists (IAM), is calling on Ontario Solicitor General David Turnbull to explain why 25 striking members of the IAM were illegally detained on a bus for more than an hour by Ontario Provincial Police Sunday night, and were told by police they would be arrested if they left the bus to hold an information picket on public land outside the DDM auto parts plant here. The IAM members had traveled here by bus from Ajax where they initiated strike action Friday night against their employer Paintplas. It was their intention to hold a peaceful information picket for DDM workers, also members of the IAM, explaining that work to paint bumpers for General Motors cars had been transferred from their struck plant to DDM. Ritchie said the police action was “an outrageous interference with the rights of our members. This is an example of a march towards a police state in this province. Labour law is already repressive in this province. Now we have police taking matters into their own hands and threatening our members with arrest if they exercise their already limited democratic rights. Does the Canadian Constitution not have status in the community of Tillsonburg? “I’m calling on the Solicitor General to conduct a thorough and immediate investigation of this atrocious situation and provide answers and apologies to our people,” Ritchie said. Pat Murphy, a staff member of the IAM who accompanied the union members on the bus from Ajax, said when the bus turned onto Highway 19 off of Highway 401, they were immediately followed by an OPP car and by the time they reached the DDM plant the bus was surrounded by eight OPP cars. When Murphy tried to lead his people off the bus he was told by a Sgt. Woods of the Oxford OPP that anyone who left the bus would be arrested. Murphy reported Woods said to him: “We’re not going to have any problems here, this is a private company.” Murphy then proposed that the union members be allowed to disembark on the roadside. Woods repeated his threat that if they did, they would be arrested. Asked what the charge would be, Woods didn’t reply. In this connection Ritchie said: “The police contention that ‘this is a private company’ sounds like a proclamation from a private police force.” After a delay of an hour and 15 minutes an OPP inspector arrived on the scene and reversed the order from Sgt. Woods, and the Paintplas strikers were allowed to set up their information picket. But by then the shift workers had already entered the plant. -30-
|
HOME || Calendar || Press Releases || Meet the Staff || IAM Strikes in Canada ||
About the IAM || IAM Journal || infoXpress || Political Activity || Lodges and Districts ||
A Brief History of the IAM || Links || Downloads || Web Site Policy ||
ARTICLES:
|| Mario Clermont || Louis Erlichman || Gord Falconer ||
|| Heather Kelley || Bill Shipman || Steve Vodi ||
Any technical problems with this site, please email the WebSteward
Copyright 1999-2000, The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers