Re: [Marxism] Re: Immigration in the....

["Richard Fidler" <rfidler@xxxxxxxxxx>]

From: "Louis R Godena" <louisgodena@xxxxxxx> wrote:

Immigrant workers, especially illegal immigrant workers, are,
sadly "a dog that just won't hunt."   They have no real ties to
the community and have no interest in going out on long and
expensive strikes over gains that will in all probability be
realized only over the long haul.   They are here to make a lot of
money and then move on.   I guarantee you they will scab on every
strike (I've seen it again and again), work double-breasted, and
support the union only if they see some IMMEDIATE gain.  Other
than that, forget it. ...


Flight from political strife lands in labour fight

Striker who battled Mugabe joins workers in rights battle at
Alberta slaughterhouse

By DAWN WALTON
[Globe and Mail]

Thursday, October 20, 2005 Posted at 11:07 AM EST

BROOKS, ALTA. -- Arnold Mugadya has a habit of latching on to the
role of David to run head on into a Goliath.

He was a political organizer with the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change in Zimbabwe, where Robert Mugabe has used his
presidency to run roughshod over his critics.

With a political science degree under his belt, Mr. Mugadya
witnessed what no class in politics had prepared him for. Those
who shared his beliefs about ousting the Mugabe government were
intimidated, arrested, tortured and killed. Then he, too, became a
target.

"I was nearly persecuted because of this political involvement,"
the 33-year-old recalls.

Hoping for a better life in Canada, he hatched an escape plan. It
took two days to travel by foot to South Africa. From there he
flew to Canada, landing as a political refugee.

That was four years ago, and now he faces a new Goliath.

On this day, Mr. Mugadya is in charge of music on the main picket
line in front of Lakeside Packers, one of Canada's largest
slaughterhouses. The plant in Brooks, Alta., has stood largely
idle since Oct. 12, when more than 1,000 workers walked out.

"When I came [to Canada], I knew that I'm going somewhere where my
rights are going to be respected. When I started to work at this
place," Mr. Mugadya says, gazing at the slaughterhouse, "then I
found out that Canada is a different place altogether."

In many ways, Lakeside is a microcosm of Canada's image as a
multicultural haven. Every language imaginable can be heard along
the picket lines, set up at a half-dozen entrances around Lakeside
properties, two hours drive southeast of Calgary.

Many workers come from places of poverty, persecution or war
elsewhere in the world. Now, the 2,300 plant workers -- about 60
per cent are new to Canada -- are embroiled in a labour-relations
war.

The plant is no melting pot, but the striking workers do share one
thing: They don't believe they are being treated fairly for doing
back-breaking jobs most people couldn't stomach. They want wages
and sick pay comparable to the benefits offered at other
slaughterhouses (depending on their jobs at Lakeside, workers make
$11 to $17 an hour).

Strikers say they are discouraged from seeing their family doctors
when injured on the job. They say they are denied simple
necessities such as washroom breaks.

"There is slavery going on in Brooks," says worker Tereza Mursal,
who left a civil war in Sudan to come to Canada. She came to
Lakeside more than three years ago after she lost her fibre-optics
job at a technology company in Ottawa.

Lakeside's owner denies the strikers' allegations.

"While no company is perfect, we can tell you we value our team
members and work hard to make sure they're treated fairly," said
Gary Mickelson, a spokesman with Tyson Foods Inc., the
Arkansas-based food processing giant that acquired the plant in
2001.

"In fact, we have a worker bill of rights, a code of conduct and
operate by a set of core values that outline our commitment to
treating workers with dignity and respect."

The dispute has had its nasty moments. Six men were charged after
a car crash near the plant last Friday, which injured Douglas
O'Halloran, head of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union
Canada Local 401, after he said he was driven off the road.

Mr. O'Halloran has also been charged in connection with windows
smashed on buses carrying replacement workers. This week, RCMP
charged another striker in connection with a flattened tire on a
bus waiting to enter the plant.

There have been previous attempts to unionize the plant; the
latest push occurred after 60 workers were fired in April, 2004.
The workers said they were dismissed for raising issues about
employee rights; the company said they refused work. In August of
2004, workers voted by a bare majority to join the union.

Christina and Harold Slade were lured here from St. John's eight
years ago after recruiters from the slaughterhouse turned their
sights to the growing ranks of unemployed in Atlantic Canada.

At first, the Slades were happy in their jobs lifting meat,
cutting bone and trimming fat. They bought a house in which they
raised their three children. But since 2001, Ms. Slade says,
things have changed.

"The cows get treated better than we do, because at least they've
only got to go through this place once," she says as she stands
with a stopwatch dangling around her neck, keeping track of the
time pickets are allowed to block vehicles from entering Lakeside
property.

If the strike drags on, Ms. Slade figures she and her husband will
see their income drop by about $1,600 a month.

"Why should I have to leave the job to get respect?" Ms. Slade
spits. "With the union on our side, we have someone to fight for
the little people."


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