The Grand Solidarity March held May 25 in Trois- Rivieres drew thousands of supporters from almost every union in Canada and leaders and supporters from across the world. They rallied and marched in support of the 1070 locked out members of USW local 9700, who have been locked out of their jobs at ABI smelter since January 11, 2018.
The lockout has been prolonged by the smelters owners, aluminum giants Alcoa and Rio Tinto, which have continually moved the goalposts in negotiations with increasing demands for concessions from the workers. Alcoa holds a 75 % stake in the ABI smelter.
Alcoa’s increasing disrespect and assault on its workers is affecting its international reputation, said USW Canadian Director Ken Neumann, returning from a meeting in Brussels of the leaders IndustriALL, the global labour federation representing more than 50 million workers worldwide.
SOAR was ably represented by a contingent of SOAR members from chapter 6-01 in Toronto who travelled by bus with members of the Steelworkers Toronto Area Council (STAC) to show solidarity with the USW local 9700 members.
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