As I watched the show I could not but think why the autoworkers did not want to take over the ownership of the plant. With over 4 million dollars owed to them they couls start their own company. The machines were ther as so was the market. Why not tako over and start a business? Perhaps the union does not believe they could do it or perhaps they just want to reap rewards when someone else takes the risks.

Brian seemed very passionate in his initial stance.However I felt he capitulated in the end "regarding
equipment for severance".Jerry Dias convinced him it was the best deal achievable.FORD MOTORS is just as guilty.Brian should of stood his ground.

At the beginning of this episode there is a warning to to the effect that some viewers may be offended by program language - most viewers, who can read, understand & heed these warnings. Now can we get REAL & get beyond 'words' that some find offensive & objectionable (next time change channels or turn the TV off if 'words' alone hurt your sensitive nature & ears) and please enter into an honest debate, re: the SUBJECT matter of the documentary. What did you think of the program itself? Can you formulate an opinion OR is this too much to ask OR are you too busy being offended?
Personally, what I find profane & obscene in the extreme is the callous, unjust & deliberate disregard & treatment of ordinary tax paying Canadian wage earners, as shown by Edscha(& others)& by the Ontario Ministry of Labour. Canada & Canadian tax-payers (including union & non-union auto workers) deserve better from failed companies, which initially and for years afterward profit/benefit from Canadian tax seed money,tax breaks, etc. Workers also deserve all the protection which EXISTING labour law can bring to bear on such companies when they do go bankrupt. These failed companies, in many instances, have convertible assets (land, buildings, machinery,etc.) and the wherewithal to pay legally required 'severance' benefits but in the end, find some way to scurry away like rats in the night &, thus, to stick it to honest working men & women yet again. At this point I could utter some oaths & expletives of my own but I would not want to offend the ears of some in your overly-sensitive audience... Bravo Brian, I heard you loud and clear. Good Luck to you.
In Solidarity.

I would like to start by saying it is people like Brian who fight for the working man with only the interest of justice and fareplay .No big money or fancy expense account drives a person like him and power and fame is far out of reach at a 300 person plant in a small city. His courage , determination and honesty should be an education to all others. When it is said and done he will get 380 dollars a week in E.I. benefits just like every one else. and I garanty you he will still be fighting from his kitchen table rather than his office. God bless you Brian and next time get a job with little responsibility and no stress though I know that sitting back and watching Managment be advantages over workers is hard to do but your health and son are first. You were great to me when I needed you as a former union brother.Thank you and God Bless

Having watched the recent show re The Education of Brian,I must say that I think the CBC showed very bad
taste in not bleeping out the tirade of foul language
used by a certain Union representative. Especially when
it was shown in a time slot when young people could have
been watching. I appreciate that you may want your
programing to be realistic, however I think it could be done without offending a lot of people.
Thank you

Canada appears in the international community as a fat, wounded and bleeding fish in shark infested waters.
When we read of the naivety of native people when the foreigners offered mirrors and beads and wonder how they could have been taken in, the natives were let down by the short term gullibility of their leaders.
Different backdrop \ same scenario.
In international trade and relationships Canadians are seen as childlike eager to please infants, but infants from a (resource) rich family. They, including their most senior elected official, can be had for beans and beads. We will remain a resources workcamp until we get a grown up leadership, with vision, gonads and courage.
To absolutely nail one of these abusers of Canadian employees, not just name calling but full financial responsibility plus a fine, (they did break our laws) would be a good start. On a bad day I wonder why the BLOC do not run for office in Ontario; I don't agree with them but at least them are visionaries and loyal to those whe elected them!

I've lived in Ontario in my youth, in Alberta, and for the past 30 years in Saskatchewan.

My God, I feel for you. But, you have nothing to offer but your labour, which governments have taught you is expendable.

I was once optimistic but am now as tough as nails. I spend nothing that is not absolutely essential. But when I buy, I buy locally - you know, you may have fired your own customers.

I used to be an NDP supporter, but now support the Conservatives. At least they support balanced budgets.

Here's my advice to you. You are not as rich as you think as you are. Don't blow your money on every gadget or whiz bang. Who cares if you have the latest vehicle or a manicure? Put that money aside. Save, plan, project ahead.

I truly hope you get out of this. Finally, don't be afraid to move. I got the best job of my life in Saskatchewan thirty years ago. Yes, the climate is cold, but the people are warm.

This show was a huge eye opener for me. I've been a union member for about 10 years and recently lost my job in the customer service industry. There are many Canadian companies closing branches and offering severance packages and then revoking them. My union rep has been great in trying to fight for me but the company in which we are in conflict with is not responding to us.
It isn't just the manufactering industry affected by job loss and non-payment of serverance pay, it is everywhere. Without my union I would have to pay a lawyer myself to fight this battle.
And to Chris who drives a Canadian made car, so do I a Toyota Corolla. It supports the company here in Ontario that my husband works for, not a big 3 American company but a Japanese company here in Canada employing thousands of people.

After reading a few comments I would just like to add, as a former Edscha employee of 18 years this is truly a injustice to workers all across Canada. Edscha was awarded a contract with Honda just before Christmas, in February 09 we were told of plant closure, and for the next four months we were being fed B.S. about a viability plan to keep the plant open. G.M. and Ford we were told were both 100% behind us and would be sticking with us in the future. So please tell me when you have the backing of 2 of the big 3 and Honda ( new contract ) they still close, to me this was years in the making, a master plan from Germany to close this plant no matter what. I understand the auto industry is in dire straits, but at the very least severance should have been paid to the employees who for the most part had 15+ years in a plant that was opened in 1988. We were screwed and the goverment who we pay thousands of dollars a year too in taxes, either didn't care or didn't want to be involved, and this is starting to become a trend with goverment in Canada. Now they want another election which costs millions of taxpayers dollars, it is a god damn travesty, maybe instead of an election they could use that money to help out of work Canadians who got screwed by the system!!!!

The education of Brian Nicholl should be a wake up call to all Canadians that given the consequences that took place after an attempt to restore severence pay owed to working Canadians in a represented work force failed.
The end result was less than 25% monies returned to cover their severence pay was realized only after the sale of plant equipment to another manufacturer was brookered. What chance do any non-unionized employees or any one else have? If this is the cracks in the armor for the new global business model, whats going to happen when similar rip offs take place to the pensions working people are waiting to collect all start to fail and fall short off what was promised?

Brian, tried his best and was let down on many levels by laws and the union that were supposed to protect the severance pay of working people. The presumption that the union is the last recourse for social justice against this happening is nonsense. The failure is the Government that we elect to enforce the rules and laws that is the real criminal and not a best attempt by an already beaten union thats becoming less relevant by the undermining of labour laws not being enforced.

Shame on all the dead beats in Government we have put in power to
protect our intrests.

Wow! this program was an eye-opener... and I'm a CEP union man of 20 years. For those of you who are not unionized to slam those of us who are is unfair in the extreme... we do pay taxes. You may not like the 'salty' language of unionists in this program OR like the personalities of the union participants BUT you can not, in good conscience, deny the gross unfairness and injustice of: manipulative greedy companies (which use bankruptcy protection to hide from accountability) OR the do-nothing nattering nabobs (with a tip of the hat to the late speech writer)of provincial/federal governments (who manage to avoid the not-so-small relevant fact of labour laws which address 'severance' as a worker's legal entitlement). Neither can you deny the obvious passion and idealism of union steward - Brian Nicholl. Manufacturing in all sectors of Canada is in BIG BIG trouble. Our elected governments must be more supportive of all workers in Canada - if it takes more and more legislation to protect ALL worker rights then so be it. We can not continue as a population to capitulate and knuckle under to the threats and blackmail tactics of BIG business. Their so-called business synergies of partnerships and mergers (which result in immediate unemployment for many), questionable bailouts/buyouts, and obscene perks and bonuses for private and public sector honchos in failing businesses is the flip-side of this Fifth Estate program and The Education of Brian Nicholl. As another middle-aged worker - hanging on until retirement (hope there is still money in the fund - don't want to go there), I would hope that we do not too harshly judge Brian Nicholl and the good people he represented... walk a mile in Brian's shoes... for his efforts and caring he had a heart attack! There, but for the grace of God, go us and maybe our own hopes and dreams and savings - despite years of hard honest work. The only thing BIG business fears is the solidarity of workers and laws to protect human and worker rights. WE must continue the fight for what is legally ours and to have our governments enforce 'severance' labour legislation. There is no other option. The bleeding must stop somewhere.

Brian you deserve a halo for representing your membership to the bitter end even against all odds. The company was against you, Ontario Government was not there for you, The National Union should have been more creative sooner and possibly share in the severnance pay out!

This is a very important issue. I would hope that the Fifth Estate can take this lack of government help for workers even further and do a story on Nortel. Here is a Canadian company basically doing the same thing (not paying severance) and the federal/provincial governments are not doing anything. We are talkling about tens of thousands of Canadian families being impacted throughtout Canada being forced onto EI. These are not factory workers but highly educated professionals that have given decades of loyalty to this once Canadian gem only to be thrown out on EI while Nortel execs continue to plunder any remaining assets. Meanwhile, the Canadian government stands by and watches while foreigners take the money from sold assets to take care of their workers. Canadian tax payers through the EDC have provided Nortel with tax breaks and other incentives only to have Canadian professional workers forced to the EI system (most didn't even know how to apply for EI). This is a true discrace and I hope the CBC and the Fifth Estate pursue this immediately as a followup to your piece.

A truly heartbreaking account of the consequences of corporate greed and the willful impotence of the Ministry of Labour.

While the documentary touched on the buyout that led to this closure, the leveraged buyout business is a good candidate for a future segment.

It's interesting how private equity firms buy up viable companies and then load the debt from the buyout onto the company which often, under the new debtload, is no longer viable. Layoffs and closures are usually the outcome while the 'investors' make a fortune (with the added bonus of tax advantages as a result of the debt they created).

I think Edscha was taken over by the Carlyle group, run by some of the world's richest and most powerful. There are, of course, legions of politicos looking after the interests of these savvy power brokers and NOBODY looking after the interests of the rest of us (i.e. 90% of the hapless population)

This isn't just plant workers anymore, Nortel has done the same thing, except they have US$2.6B in cash and aren't paying severance. We become a government liability. Since this is a global company, the US and UK may see $.50 on the dollar and Canadians will see $.10 on the dollar for severance. The laws need to be changed. Why does the government stand for this and where is the corporate responsibility? We are having a demonstration at Queen's Park on October 7 from 12-1:30PM to change bankruptcy protection laws to protect the people. Come out and support us; this is happening whether we like it or not and the people have to stand up.

What an excellent show tonight! It behooves all Canadians to hold these companies, who have set up here wiht our public monies, and who have benifitted for years from a weak Canadian dollar, to honour their legal obligations...

Is it possible to post some video or a transcript of tonight's show? I'd like to spread the story through Facebook, etc... The Canadian public needs to boycott Edscha products until our fellow citizens get their severance pay. Those foreign companies are passing the buck now, but I'm pretty sure they'd scare up who's accountable and make them pay if their market in Canada dried up.

I'm willing to start it, and any resources from you would be helpful.

Thanks,
Johanne Savoie
(implacable waitress ;D)

Here's the cruddy-ass part of it all. With all the lay-off's and plant closures, has anyone stopped to see what the executive, (and hangers-on) sallery and benifit packages are? Call me suspicous, but I'll bet my bottom dollar that the corperations top 20 earners will have millions upon millions in thier 'Perk" buckets. Funny how it goes these days. They screw up royally, bankrupting the company by over-indulgence and greed, but time comes to honor thier debts, suddenly everyones all broke and bankrupt. They'll tell you how sorry they are, leaning up against thier new Lexus in the shadow of thier 15 million dollar home.

Maybe we're all being to accomidating here. Maybe the executive branch that bankrupts a company should be equivilantly liable for the desaster theyve caused...meaning they should be personally liable for an equitable portion of the bankrupts's bottom line. Hay, I'll even be nice and suggest that this only applies to those whose net value exeeds 5 million.
What do you think?

Having grown up in Southwestern Ontario, my heart goes out to these employees. Wallaceburg Ontario, once a vibrant manufacturing town also has little left. Plants that used to employ hundreds of people are now hidden behind "For Sale" signs, overgrown weeds, or are completely gone - demolished empty lots, which for many I am sure is like trying to visit a dead relative with no where to grieve.

Like the employees at Edscha, many in Wallaceburg await severance and pensions. I do not understand how the government allows these companies to do this to these people. Imagine the amount of money that must be owed to employees all across ravaged Ontario!

I wish I knew what the solution was for these families. I also wish that for once, someone (eg. business, government) would stand up and do the right thing.

Thanks Fifth Estate for putting some faces to the tragedy that is unfolding in Ontario.

I feel for these workers.The Goverment of Ontario should have seized the assets until payment made.But there again is the liberal goverment with there heads in the sand.
On the flipside were the workers asked to take concessions
to make the plant viable.We all know about the CAW's attitude towards concessions.With all the union dues paid why didn't the CAW contribute to the workers.My guess to busy spending the workers money.

Shame, Shame, Shame on you CBC/Fifth Estate. I was appalled at the obscene language the thug Brian Nicols was using during the documentary which is aired on a Sunday evening with our young kids sitting around the living room. Whatever happened to bleeping out obscene language. So much for trying to educate and instill some social decorum, manners and class onto our youth. It saddens me to think that the CBC and the Fifth estate are going the way of the tacky american programs which will air just about anything for ratings.

In so far as the content of the program is concerned... I too lost my job last December along with 90 other employees from a blue chip company... and like Brian Nicols am a single 50 year old parent with mortgage and car payments. Having said all of this, the auto sector unions and employees have enjoyed outrageous salaries, benefits and pensions for years....welcome to the real world. By the way, I drive a car made in Canada...perhaps you should send camera crews to all the large companies and schools in Ontario with unionized employees and pan their parking lots...I would be really surprised to see if 1 in 10 cars in the lots are manufactured by any of the big 3. We sow what we reap.

As a CAW Local 199 member, I truly enjoyed your story, "THE EDUCATION OF BRIAN NICHOLLS". Mr. Nicholls deserves alot of credit for the stand he took against the national union.It is no surprise,to many GM unit members the stand the union took because we have seen a steady string of controveries over the last 10 years.We have had members, both verbally and phyically assaulted, inside and outside the plant.WE also had a public review hearing regarding election impropriaties.As recently as of August of this year the CAW national reps were voted a big raise at the constitional convention, that has left a bad taste in alot of our members mouths considering, they negotiated wage freezes and benefits co-pays for us.

Thank You. For a compassionate piece that put a real and agonized face on some brutal numbers. For ensuring that the Minister's impotence in enforcing existing labour laws (and his refusal to take a political viagra) was made clear. But most heartily, for pointing out that a corporation that was lured into the Canadian market with tax based incentives, and I'm sure several winks and nods between deaf and blind men, could not be expected to feel any sense of loyalty to the communities in which they made billions.

There are many small shops in Windsor who cannot get paid by bigger corporations. If I had a dollar for every conversation I've heard on the bus about being laid off because a small outfit couldn't afford to wait for their check from Ford or GM or Chrysler, I wouldn't be concerned about my rent.

Just to make sure I have it clear in my mind. Billions of dollars in bailouts to companies who clearly can't compete in the 'open market',(because if they were truly competitive they wouldn't need a bailout). Thousands on lay-off, some of whom cannot get ANY of their legal entitlements. A multibillion dollar venture capital firm with more wholly owned subsidiaries than Windsor has for sale signs claims they don't have the ready to pay. OK. Then here's my question.

Is this is what billions spent by the Canadian government promoting Canada as a great place to do business (which it is for completely different reasons than those which appealed to these decision makers), and providing tax incentives to absolutely anyone with no obligation in return has gotten us? Is there no quid pro quo here? Are we going to get anything for our money? Or are will corporations continue to be allowed to come here, ride us hard and then put us away wet? No oats, no hay. Nada.

It might be a nice idea if the Canadian government stated looking out for Canadians, instead of the next hot deal. As the debt grows, fuelled in part by rising EI and Social Assistance payments, Canadians need to ask their Members, provincial and federal, one question. Why we are inviting the burglar into the house? Because if we keep this up, there will be nothing left to steal. And that spare key we gave to the unions ... perhaps we should ask for it back.

Good try Brian. (Credit due, where it belongs).

I am a blue collar worker, 57, unemployed and no more E.I. benefits. I have been working in manufacturing, since I was 16.

At least you did have some punch, with back up from the C.A.W. Hundreds of small manufacturing companies, non unionized, also closed their doors. Thousands of manufacturing employees, have lost their jobs permanently, without any compensation at all. I have seen dozens of modern machine shops go bankrupt. Selling their manufacturing equipment, for pennies, on the dollar.

Are there any manufacturing corporations, in Canada, controlled by Canadians? I doubt it !
Look behind the company name, and their is a very good chance, that it is foreign controlled. Though Magna International is owned by a Canadian, it is an international corporation, with interests going back to Europe. Opel can "NOT" be "MADE" or "SOLD" in Canada !
Canada's Federal and Provincial - Labour Laws, have "NO" power, when it comes to enforcing the laws, against international countries. Canadian governments will "NOT" bight the hand, that feeds them !

I have taken special training programs. I have been rated a double (x2) analytical individual. I could write a short story, how and why Canada has failed, in protecting the manufacturing sector.
1) Canadians sold manufacturing, to foreign markets.
2) No direct Canadian control or ownership.
3) No indirect Government control.
4) High Taxes, at all levels.
5) High I.S.O. license fees.
6) High, very high insurance and benefit costs.
7) Very poor financial assistance, from our banks.
8) No financial assistance, from our Government.
9) A ten (x10) month waiting period, for payments.
ETC.

Regarding: “By American”.
Now the Canadian Provinces are presently changing the “Free Trade Act” rules, for each individual province.
This will allow Canadian companies, to bid on U.S.A. open contracts.

WARNING: “By American”.
This now has become a double (x2) edged sword !
Now as Canadians, we can bid on U.S.A. open contracts.
This will also allow U.S.A. to bid on Canadian open contracts.
What U.S. has to offer !
1) Almost par Canadian = $.
2) Lower wages and benefits = $’s.
3) Financial backing.
4) More new U.S. owned plants, in Canada.

CONCLUSION:
Between the U.S. and China, manufacturing in Canada, will “NEVER” be the same !
Canada did have a great peak, in manufacturing.
It is now gone, and will “NEVER” return !
Manufacturing, in Canada, is now “HISTORY” !

Ontarians are not alone with this fight. I have spent the last 7 months trying to get "severence" from a company. Their position wasn't that they couldn't afford it... it was that they could wait 90 days to provide notice of it and then an additional 30 days to issue it. The kicker is, that they are an Alberta run company, who does minimal (5%) business outside of the province and therefore fall under the "federal" labour rules and not the provincial ones, so after working for the company for 15 years we only received 30 days of pay (based on the average of the last 13 weeks) In the mean time, 25 years of RRSP's & savings are gone, EI will make us pay back benefits we have received and we are still facing losing our home. For what, the down turn in the economy and companies who don't plan for their employees. It's about time standards were met across the country and certainly accountability is enforced towards employers. When is going to mean something that employees are the ones who make the economy grow...not companies.

If I were to go out tonight and rob someone of 10 bucks I would goto jail if caught. Yet myself and 200 + former employees of Edscha of Canada and the hundreds of other companies in Ontario that rob their employees of their severance pay, right in front of the goverment and they look the other way. Thanks alot Labour Board of Ontario and the rest of your cabinet of crooks.