Workers block auction at closed Windsor plant
More than $2M owed by car parts factories' U.S. owners, ex-employees say
Last Updated: Monday, November 16, 2009 | 4:24 PM ET
CBC News
About 80 workers protest outside the former Aramco auto parts plant in Windsor, Ont., on Monday, vowing to block an auction there until their former employer, Catalina Precision Products Ltd., pays them severance. (Sean Henry/CBC) Former unionized employees of two automotive parts factories in Windsor, Ont., have blocked the doors to the plants' entrances before an auction on Tuesday, saying they still haven't received vacation and severance pay from the facilities' U.S.-based owner.
Catalina Precision Products Ltd. closed its Aradco and Aramco plants without warning in March, after a dispute with Chrysler led the auto manufacturer to cancel its contract with Catalina, which stamped parts like clamps and fasteners.
It laid off its 80 workers, offering four weeks of severance pay, or a total of $200,000.
Ex-employees of two auto parts plants in Windsor are displaying signs that show exactly how much they say they're owed by their former employer — in this case, $12,972.96. (Gino Conte/CBC) The workers rejected that offer, claiming they were owed closer to $2.4 million, including vacation and termination pay. In protest, 12 workers took over the Aradco facility, on Charles Street, on March 16, welding the doors shut from the inside.
The takeover ended two days later, when members of Canadian Auto Workers Local 195, which represents the workers, voted unanimously in favour of a deal with Catalina that would have given them at least a portion of their demands.
Chrysler also agreed to pay $400,000, which was divided equally among the workers.
But the workers say they haven't received a penny from Catalina. They're vowing to block the auction of plant equipment until they are paid.
"Nobody's coming in this place," vowed Gerry Farnham, president of Local 195. "Nobody's coming in here to turn around and get the equipment out of here and put it up for sale.
"Anybody turns around and starts buying up this equipment, we've lost the battle," Farnham said, while rallying the workers outside the Aramco plant from the back of a pickup truck.
He also accused Catalina's owners of being "criminal," referring to the conviction in September in France of Greg Willis, the CEO of Catalina's parent company, and his assitant, Catherine Zickfield. They were found guilty of handling stolen goods and misusing public funds in connection with the closing of a factory there in 2006, according to an article in Le Monde newspaper.
