Skilled Trades Association, CAW Local 199 St. Catharines (General Motors Unit) | ||||||
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Written by Ed to Norm De Bono of the London Free Press in response to his article published on December 27, 2008 entitled "Don't Blame the Workers" Thank you Norman. As a 24 year employee of the St. Catharines GM plants, I can tell you it is refreshing to hear someone in the media recognize what we've worked for all these years. And how all the negotiations and job restructuring have saved our jobs and the companies we work for. I just don't understand how all the critics can inform the public on what we do in our jobs when they've never set foot in our plants. I've always been of the opinion that you can't judge someone until you walk a mile in their shoes. It is awfully discouraging to read about the wages of people in Mexico, and to know our children wouldn't even work for these wages because it would be pointless for them. Also seeing you write about the fact that the reason the import companies have similar wages to us, just to keep the CAW out, speaks volumes. Anything the corporations can keep from the worker, they will. After all their prime motivator is profit not job security, health, safety or Representation. I am optimistic, or at least try to be. I don't believe that the majority of the free thinking public believe that auto workers do nothing all day and get paid for it. I also believe that same majority know that if the upper paid portion of the middle class disappear, so will the middle class. I read an excerpt from Lee Iacocca's new book, he wrote about this very real fact. He was astonished at how nobody in the United States was standing up screaming bloody hell at the deterioration of the Auto Sector. Well I can tell you that at our plants we have been. For years now. I can also tell you that until our Canadian Government along with the United States Government put an end to "free trade" and institute "fair trade". We can all scream as loud as we want because it won't do an ounce of good when wages and resources are at a fraction of the cost for the import car companies. Anyway, these are my thoughts........thank you again for your fact based reporting. Sincerely Ed Mokrzynski | ||||||
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