Toronto – Striking workers at the Molson Coors plant in Etobicoke are not just fighting a stingy employer, they’re resisting Americanization and globalization, the President of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union says.
“These big American bosses, they’re driven by corporate greed, that’s all. They want workers to do more with less. But that’s not how we do it here in Canada,” Thomas said Thursday. “Molson is just one more example of a Canadian company snatched up by foreign interests. Before the American bosses got here, brewery jobs were decent, middle-class jobs. Under American ownership, these jobs are getting worse and worse.”
Thomas made the comments at a “Solidarity Barbecue” for 320 members of the Canadian Union of Brewery and General Workers Local 325. The workers went on strike January 12 in a bid to fend off Molson Coors’ demands for deep cuts to wages, pensions, and benefits for all workers.
“It’s a clear attack on the middle class,” said Thomas, who has already called on OPSEU members to boycott Molson Coors products. “We will not stand for it. I support the striking Molson Coors workers 100 per cent, and I know OPSEU members do, too.
“’Molson American’ has no place in Canada,” Thomas said after the rally. “Molson Coors needs to know they’re messing with the wrong people. You can’t bully Canadian workers and get away with it.”
See the video of Thomas’s remarks Thursday below.
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For more information: Warren (Smokey) Thomas, 613-329-1931