Thursday June 16, 2005
For Immediate Release
North Bay – Over forty Machinists had their jobs terminated prematurely Wednesday morning when Midtronics, announced it was closing its manufacturing facility here.
The closure followed a Ministry of Labour order Tuesday for Midtronics to shut down the plant machinery, when a snap safety inspection uncovered the company’s failure to comply with safety improvement orders dating back to early April.
“We’re outraged at the employer’s total disregard for employee safety, said IAMAW Grand Lodge Representative Pat Murphy. “This facility was scheduled to close on June 30th and this inspection shows the employer had no intention of making the necessary safety changes before that date. They were willing to risk further potential injuries to the workers here over the next two weeks rather than pay to make the changes. This type of behaviour is beneath contempt,” Murphy said.
The members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local Lodge 2412 manufacture battery chargers at the plant which is being moved to China.
The safety status of the machinery was brought to the attention of the Ministry of Labour in early April after a worker lost a finger in one of the presses. The inspectors found a safety button had been disconnected. When inspectors returned to the plant on May 8th and found the company and plant manager in non-compliance with Ministry work orders, a total of five charges were laid. When inspectors toured the plant yesterday and still found their orders had been ignored, they ordered the machinery shut down. Further charges are now pending. Without the machinery, management decided to close the plant early and terminated the workers, paying them until June 30th.
“These workers won’t get any severance pay,” said Murphy. “According to Midtronics Director of Operations, Gary Bouchard, that money is needed to pay for the safety violation fines. It angers me that the government is allowing this to happen, we’ve made the local MPP Monique Smith aware of this situation and she has never returned my calls.”
