Security guard injures workers, Hargrove threatens to pull thousands of CAW members off the job to support strike
A security guard drove his minivan through a crowd of unionized workers protesting outside a truck assembly plant in Chatham, Ont., critically injuring one man and hospitalizing two others.
Three hundred workers were waiting to intercept a busload of replacement workers bound for the Navistar International truck plant when six of them were struck on Monday by the minivan.
Unionized workers at the plant have been on strike since June 1. None of the injured workers were employees of the plant — they were CAW members from nearby Windsor, Ont. who were with the striking workers in a show of support. A 37-year-old DaimlerChrysler autoworker, the most seriously injured of the six, was in surgery for more than five hours Monday night.
CAW national president Buzz Hargrove has asked the province to intervene to bring the company and union back to the table. He threatened to pull thousands of CAW members away from jobs across Ontario to converge on the truck plant to bolster picket lines.
“If we have to close down other employers and move some people into Chatham to protect our members and their families, we’re going to do it. We’ve got 130,000 members in Ontario and we’re going to call on every one of them if we need them,” he said. “We are not going to sit idly by and have our members’ jobs stolen by scabs.”
This is the fourth time Navistar has tried to bus in non-unionized workers to the plant since June 16. The first time, Ontario Provincial Police turned back the bus, and on subsequent attempts the company abandoned efforts as CAW supporters massed at a highway interchange and at the factory. Navistar has threatened to close the plant if workers refuse to accept pay cuts.
The driver of the minivan, a 21-year-old security guard employed by London Protection International, was arrested and is facing three counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm. He has been ordered to stay at least one kilometre away from the plant and to have no involvement in the dispute.
Three hundred workers were waiting to intercept a busload of replacement workers bound for the Navistar International truck plant when six of them were struck on Monday by the minivan.
Unionized workers at the plant have been on strike since June 1. None of the injured workers were employees of the plant — they were CAW members from nearby Windsor, Ont. who were with the striking workers in a show of support. A 37-year-old DaimlerChrysler autoworker, the most seriously injured of the six, was in surgery for more than five hours Monday night.
CAW national president Buzz Hargrove has asked the province to intervene to bring the company and union back to the table. He threatened to pull thousands of CAW members away from jobs across Ontario to converge on the truck plant to bolster picket lines.
“If we have to close down other employers and move some people into Chatham to protect our members and their families, we’re going to do it. We’ve got 130,000 members in Ontario and we’re going to call on every one of them if we need them,” he said. “We are not going to sit idly by and have our members’ jobs stolen by scabs.”
This is the fourth time Navistar has tried to bus in non-unionized workers to the plant since June 16. The first time, Ontario Provincial Police turned back the bus, and on subsequent attempts the company abandoned efforts as CAW supporters massed at a highway interchange and at the factory. Navistar has threatened to close the plant if workers refuse to accept pay cuts.
The driver of the minivan, a 21-year-old security guard employed by London Protection International, was arrested and is facing three counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm. He has been ordered to stay at least one kilometre away from the plant and to have no involvement in the dispute.
