Sid Ryan to Join Picket Lines at London's Electro-Motive Plant:

LONDON, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Jan. 2, 2012) - The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) President Sid Ryan will join CAW Local 27 members on the picket line today at their London, Ontario plant. The workers were locked out by Electro-Motive Canada on New Year's day, as the company tried to bully the union into accepting a 50 percent cut in wages and massive concessions to benefits and pensions.

"This is yet another example of a greedy, foreign-owned company that has made a killing from Canadian tax cuts but refuses to invest its profits back in the Canadian economy and its dedicated workers," said OFL President Sid Ryan. "We can't let the Harper government sit idly by while foreign companies decimate Canadian jobs, quality of life and retirement security."

Electro-Motive, a subsidiary of U.S. industrial giant Caterpillar Inc., issued a final offer to its London workers that would cut hourly wages to $16.50 from $35 while slashing pensions and benefits, even though Caterpillar has enjoyed record profits and a 20 percent boost to production over the last year. The company is rumoured to be taking advantage of Ontario's lax labour laws by bringing in scab labour to keep the plant operational while bullying the union into devastating concessions. Many fear that the company's hidden agenda is to move production to a U.S. plant in Indiana.

"Ontario workers need our governments to take immediate action to stop scab labour that is undermining labour negotiations and hold foreign-owned companies to strict requirements to protect decent paying jobs and job creation," said Ryan. "At stake in this strike is the future of work in Canada and the livelihood of our middle class. Workers recognize that now it is time for militant resistance against corporate greed."

On Monday, the OFL pledged to mobilize workers to help the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) stop scabs from crossing picket lines at Electro-Motive Canada's London plant. The OFL has called on Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty to ensure fair and balanced collective bargaining and by enacting legislation to prevent the use of replacement workers. The OFL has also called on Prime Minister Harper to order a full review of Caterpillar's acquisition of Electro-Motive and strengthen the Investment Canada Act by requiring foreign corporations to safeguard Canadian jobs, quality of life and retirement security before purchasing Canadian companies.

"We are putting corporations and all levels of government on notice that if they attack decent Canadian jobs and retirement security, workers will mobilize with a militancy and determination that we haven't seen in years."

The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) represents 54 unions and one million workers in Ontario. OFL President Sid Ryan is the voice of Ontario's labour movement.