Update: Electro-Motive Plant in London, Ontario, Closes; Jobs Moving to Indiana?

My January 23rd post, "Get Your Ass Down Here, Prime Minister Harper!" linked a story detailing the labor fight between Caterpillar, Inc. and its at a London, Ontario factory over a proposed 50% reduction in pay and benefits. Well, it now appears that dispute has reached endgame, as reported by the Montreal Gazette:

The closure Friday of Electro-Motive plant in London, Ont., paints a bleak picture for the future of the Canadian manufacturing industry, one expert says, adding the "writing was on the wall" for the southwestern Ontario plant long before the closure became official.

Progress Rail, a U.S.-based subsidiary of giant Caterpillar Inc., closed the Electro-Motive plant's doors Friday after prolonged unsuccessful contract negotiations and a month after more than 450 workers were locked out. The closure added to a worrisome trend, says Western University economist Mike Moffatt.

At least Canada has one economist who is willing to be honest about the bleak long term trend here:

The closure Friday of Electro-Motive plant in London, Ont., paints a bleak picture for the future of the Canadian manufacturing industry, one expert says, adding the "writing was on the wall" for the southwestern Ontario plant long before the closure became official.

Progress Rail, a U.S.-based subsidiary of giant Caterpillar Inc., closed the Electro-Motive plant's doors Friday after prolonged unsuccessful contract negotiations and a month after more than 450 workers were locked out. The closure added to a worrisome trend, says Western University economist Mike Moffatt.

But there is an unexpected shocker at the end of this story:

Workers at Electro-Motive had been off the job since New Year's Day after rejecting a new collective agreement that would have lowered the salaries of some workers currently paid $35 an hour to $18 an hour. Despite the closure announcement, picket lines remained active at the site on Friday.

The company apparently intends to relocate its operation to a facility in Muncie, Indiana, where Moffat says it will have an easier time moving ahead with less resistance from workers.

He said new workers there were being trained, with a plant being expanded despite running at only one-third of its capacity.

On Wednesday, Indiana became just the second U.S. state in 20 years to enact right-to-work laws, which allow a unionized workplace to have voluntary enrolment. He said that practice often leads to a lot of "freeloading," which results in underfunded unions with less clout in the negotiating room.

So there you have it. Conditions for workers are getting so bad in the United States that we are now starting to become a potential off shoring destination for jobs from other first world countries. The politicos like President Hopey-Changey will crow when these new, low paying Indiana jobs become reflected in the U.S. employment figures, but they will not be jobs that allow the workers to buy a house, pay for their children's college education or plan for a secure retirement. This is the endgame of NAFTA, GATT and all of the other "free" trade agreements...lowering global wages until they reach a worldwide equilibrium just above subsistence level and enriching the predatory capitalists who ruthlessly shift the jobs around. It's another telling indicator of the new dystopia.


Bonus: Now the Canadians have a good reason to sing this bitter song, "I don't need your war machines...I don't need your ghetto scenes"

"Get Your Ass Down Here, Prime Minister Harper!"

Holy crap, what's this? The mayor of a city not taking lying down the gutting of a local factory's workers' pay and benefits after the foreign corporation which owns it was granted huge tax breaks? Not to mention that same mayor is also excoriating the nation's leader for favoring corporate interests over those of the workers? Fabulous! Too bad it is only happening north of the border, as reported Saturday by Digital Journal:

"Get your ass down here, Prime Minister Harper!" bellowed Joe Fontana, mayor of London. In 2008 Harper visited the city's EMD plant, announcing corporate tax cuts to increase job security for Canadians. Now, EMD workers are locked out by their U.S. owner.

So what exactly has the mayor all up in arms?

Since the start of the year, about 425 unionized Electro-Motive Diesel workers in London have been locked out by Progress Rail, a subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc. The highly profitable, global company shocked many by demanding London workers take a 50 percent drop in pay, accept deep cuts to their benefits, and stand by as their pension plans were gutted.

Yeah, that's pretty bad. I can see why people might be pissed off. And I found these quotes to be particularly delicious:

Stop, ask a pleasant looking older woman why she is there. You learn her son has worked at EMD for years and his reward is being locked out, put onto the street in January in the middle of the Canadian winter. "Tell Harper to get the money back . . . It's our money he gave to those bastards!" She spits out the words with venom.

Everyone hears the personal story of the Jones family when Brianna Jones and her father, Ian, take centre stage. Brianna made her contempt for the giant American company clear. Without unions she said, "We'd all be living in the slums. They don't care." She continued, "Our family's budget will be slashed in half." Brianna is attending university in Windsor and plans on going on to earn her doctorate. A crumbling family budget would hurt.

"It is morally wrong to call (my father's) life's work unskilled," she says talking about her dad. Brianna is proud of her father. "We should not have to inherit a society where greed trumps morality." The crowds loudly chants, "Greed. Greed. Greed."

Oh, and here you see the lingering effects of the Occupy movement:

But it was not only private and public-sector labour unions that were attracted to the rally; It also drew non-labour supporters as well. Sister Sue Walker of the Sisters of St. Joseph in London warned, "The social contract is breaking down." She said, "Wealth is trickling upwards" and this is "tearing at the fabric of society. Now is the time for the 99 percent to stand together."

The biggest question I have every time I read the latest story about a factory being shut down so that production can be moved to China, or workers being laid off by CEOs who are still paid tens of millions of dollars is: where is the outrage? Every time this kind of shit happens in America, the workers just meekly take it and don't ever protest. Why not yell and scream and make your voice heard? Ultimately, it might not save your job, but it might serve to finally wake people up to what is really going on in this country.


Bonus: Which side are you on?

Saturday Night Music Video - "Crash Years" by The New Pornographers

The New Pornographers are a Canadian power pop band that has gained a lot of popularity in recent years because of their tuneful melodies and outstanding songwriting. Plus, having the absolutely gorgeous (in both appearance and voice) Neko Case as a part time frontwoman doesn't hurt either.

Anyway, here is Neko and the band with their recent single, "Crash Years," the title of which could make it the theme song for The Long Emergency.

Enjoy!

Sun Life to Cut 800 U.S. Jobs

Canada's Sun Life Financial Inc., just repaid the U.S. for that whole "Fifty-Four, Forty or Fight" thing back in the 19th century. Here is Bloomberg with the details:

Sun Life Financial Inc., Canada’s third-largest insurer, plans to stop selling variable annuities and individual life insurance products in the U.S. and will cut 800 jobs there as it shifts focus to Canada and Asia. The stock had its biggest gain in more than two years.

Sun Life expects to record costs of about C$75 million ($73 million) to C$100 million from the changes, a portion of which will be in the fourth quarter, the Toronto-based company said today in a statement. The insurer will also take a writedown of about C$97 million.

Variable annuities, which provide guaranteed incomes to customers regardless of market performance, have led to losses at Sun Life and bigger rival Manulife Financial Corp. after equities plunged. Sun Life’s U.S. insurance unit had losses of C$569 million in the third quarter, and C$279 million in the first nine months of 2011.

The move follows the Dec. 1 promotion of Dean Connor to chief executive officer, replacing Donald Stewart, who retired. Sun Life plans to concentrate in the U.S. on group insurance and voluntary benefits, as well as its Boston-based MFS Investment Management business. The company also pledged to focus on Asia and Canada.

I would tell the U.S. employees of Sun Life to treat the new boss, same as the old boss, but he just fired their asses. So what did the new CEO have to say about all of this anyway?

Sun Life is “setting out on a course that is focused on improving return on equity, reducing the volatility in the business, and being more focused in areas that we think provide superior avenues for growth,” Connor, 55, said today in a telephone interview.

Why thank you, new Sun Life CEO Dean Connor, for proving conclusively that a Canadian CEO can be just as full of shit as any of his American counterparts. My hat is off to you, sir.


Bonus: Merry Christmas from the Great White North

What's the Matter With Canada?

I want to take time out from my constant carping about the many ills ailing the American empire and address my friends from north of the 49th parallel for a moment. You guys are supposed to be the smart ones up there--more thoughtful, more tolerant, less belligerent. We Americans have in recent years provided you with countless examples of what you should strive NOT to be. And yet it doesn't appear that you're at all paying attention.

It's bad enough that you insist upon turning the stunningly beautiful province of Alberta into a lifeless moonscape in order to feed America's insatiable petroleum habit. But now your largest and most prosperous city has gone ahead and elected a pro-sprawl stooge of a mayor:

Rob Ford is Toronto's buffonish embarrassment of a mayor, elected by the suburbs to "end Toronto's war on cars" and "open the city for business," he declared that he would save money by "ending the gravy train" of city spending, only to take office and discover that the only discretionary funding that remained to be cut was to things like well-loved, well-used libraries.

But wait, you haven't heard anything yet:

Marg "Princess Warrior" Delahunty is a character played by Mary Walsh on the comedy-news-show This Hour Has 22 Minutes. It's complicated, but basically she dresses up like a middle-aged housewife, who is, in turn, dressed as a warrior princess, who is, in turn, a political journalist. It actually works really well and has resulted in some of the best political reporting in Canadian history.

But when Marg Princess Warrior tried to interview Rob Ford, Ford reportedly went crazy, called 911, demanded faster service, and said, "You bitches! Don’t you fucking know? I’m Rob fucking Ford, the mayor of this city!"

To be clear, the emergency that prompted this outburst was that Mayor Ford was in danger of being interviewed by a comedian.

Wow, this doofus sounds like he's ready to enter the competition with Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann and Herman Cain as the most out-of-control fevered ego among North American politicians. Seriously, Toronto, how do you elect someone like this? It's not like you have Fox News up there relentlessly destroying voters' brain cells 24/7.

Sadly, it appears from what I tell from my perch down here in Virginia that rather than being appalled and horrified by how America is slowly tearing itself apart, many Canadians are determined to be ever more like us. That's how powerful the allure of our consumerist economic model is, however unsustainable and doomed it might be.

New Poll: Canadians' Attitude Towards the U.S. Shifting from Envy to Sympathy—but for the Wrong Reasons

image: an Albertan forest, before and after tar sands oil production, National Geographic Magazine, March 2009

On the surface it’s one of those stories that makes you shake your head at just how far down America has fallen. Things have gotten so bad here in the States that even the denizens of the Great White North are feeling sorry for us. Here’s the Globe and Mail with the story:

When Canadians look at their American neighbours, they no longer gaze with envy at a powerful greenback, a low unemployment rate or deep pools of capital sloshing around an entrepreneurial paradise.

Canadians now look south with something closer to pity.

A poll conducted for The Globe and Mail by Nanos Research on attitudes toward the United States reveals that Canadians see an economy in tatters, a paralyzed political system and a volatile American Dream trumped by a stable Canadian version.

Yeah, that’s pretty bad from an American point of view, but very much well deserved. I was just about to give the Canadians kudos for their perceptiveness, but then I read a little further into the same story:

When Nanos researchers asked Canadians to describe the state of the U.S. economy, 84 per cent of respondents chose words ranging from “bad” to “a disaster.” Nearly 86 per cent of Canadians say they would bet that their country holds more promise for prosperity.

“Most Canadians have long had a case of economic envy,” said Nik Nanos, the president of the polling company. “If they were in the U.S., they felt they’d be making more money, they’d have a bigger house. I think what we’ve seen in the past few months is just completely contrary to what Canadians have believed for the past 50 years.”

Ahhh…so THAT’S it. The Canadians aren’t feeling sorry for us because ours is a fucked up society that expects nothing more from its citizens than abject consumerism while putting a price tag on EVERYTHING important in life, including our very health and well being. No…instead they used to envy us because they’ve always wanted be more like us and have their own McMansions.

Memo to Canada from a Concerned American: maybe you’re spending too much time up there eating doughnuts at the local Tim Hortons and delivering the stone down the curling sheet to notice this, but the American Dream of having a bigger house and a bigger car—with unlimited credit cards to fill up the former with cheaply made crap from China and the latter with cheap gasoline—is on life support. The whole program turned out to be an economic dead end that’s well on its way to being consigned to the dustbin of history. If you want to sympathize with us for anything, do so because unlike you we’ve used up most of our easy to exploit oil reserves and now have to import massive quantities of the stuff, including your own hideously environmentally damaging tar sands oil, just to keep our heads above water.

Though hardly surprising, I have to say that I still found this article profoundly depressing. I’ve visited Canada numerous times over the years and have always had a great time there. Before becoming aware of peak oil, in fact, I always felt that Canada—with its universal health care system, less belligerent foreign policy and more socially progressive attitudes in general—should serve as a model for Americans to emulate.

In recent years, however, I’ve come to recognize that Canada has very much erected the same car-centric, suburban economic model that is rapidly leading our own country to its doom. The only advantage they enjoy north of the border is having a relatively small population and a still substantial natural resource base.

That’ll help keep the party going a little longer through those long winter nights, but sooner or later the day is going to come when Canadians, too, will discover that the American way of life is utterly unsustainable. I just hope they figure it out before they turn the entire province of Alberta into a toxic wasteland in a desperate effort to save what cannot be saved, or just so they can have a bigger house.