Monday, January 31, 2005
For Immediate Release
Toronto, ON – A 20-day strike at Protectolite is over and it’s a clear victory for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The 25 members of Local Lodge 901 ratified a new 3-year collective agreement with the fibreglass products manufacturer late yesterday.
“This membership is to be congratulated for standing its ground on a picket line for twenty days in minus 30 degree temperatures,” said IAMAW Business Representative Paul Mitchell. “The members showed they would rather freeze than accept a low wage offer and co-payment concessions on health care benefits.”
The new deal calls for a wage increase of two per cent in each year of the agreement and the company dropped its demand for co-payment of dental and major medical benefits.
Workers were back on the job at the North Toronto facility this morning.
The IAM is among the largest industrial trade unions in North America and represents nearly 700,000 active and retired members and administers more than 5,000 contracts in transportation, woodworking, aerospace, manufacturing and defense related industries.
