CBC News
October 17, 2005
Striking Workers Prevent Lakeside from Running Monday
Striking Lakeside Packers employees were able to prevent production at the plant from resuming Monday, delaying workers from entering the site for several hours.
The pickets – following an Alberta Labour Relations Board directive that they couldn't prevent vehicles from entering the plant – held up hundreds of their co-workers who were trying to reach a staging site near the meat-packing facility for an average of nine minutes.
They then stalled the buses carrying the workers into the plant, yelling "scab" at the people within. "I've got two kids to look after," striking worker Fungai Mugadya said. "I'm fighting for my rights for better treatment, better working conditions."
Lakeside says only about 50 employees willing to go to work made it across the picket line. While the company says the union illegally held up cars, the union says it followed the labour board's rules.
Lakeside said it will try Tuesday to get enough workers into the plant to operate.
Two buses with police in riot gear waited near the plant, in case they were needed, while a number of officers stood by each picket line.
Not even a week old, the strike – which began Oct. 12 – has already been volatile and violent.
The United Food and Commercial Workers are trying to get a first contract with Lakeside. But a split in the workforce has been evident from the first day of the strike: while the UFCW says about 800 employees have signed up to picket, Lakeside says about 1,000 have agreed to cross the line and go to work.
The union were before the Alberta Labour Relations Board Monday, asking that a number of plant managers be kept one kilometre from the plant.
Doug O'Halloran, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers local 401, told the board Sunday that a number of vehicles ran him off the road Friday, bumping into his car and forcing him into the ditch.
He told the board he locked his doors as the people from the other vehicles approached, because he feared they were going to beat him, and that he heard them laughing and saw them filming the scene.
After the accident, while still in his vehicle, he said he was also served papers by Lakeside management, outlining a court order to keep him from the picket line.
O'Halloran, who was treated in hospital and walked into the meeting using a cane, said he recognized one of those in the other vehicles as the head of security at the Lakeside plant.
A lawyer for Lakeside argued that O'Halloran caused the accident by trying to evade managers who wanted to serve him with legal documents.
The union wants the labour relations board to keep several managers from coming within one kilometre of the plant. Lakeside argued that would prevent the managers from doing their jobs.
After Friday's accident, RCMP charged four people – including two Lakeside managers – with dangerous driving. O'Halloran was also charged with two counts of willful damage and one count of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose in connection with an incident Wednesday where a bus carrying managers into the plant was damaged.
Friday's accident capped three days of job action where striking workers prevented vehicles from entering the plant by lying in the road, hundreds of employees showed up willing to cross the picket line and go to work, Lakeside drove buses across fields to access a back entrance to the plant and a fight broke out between people from both sides.
The labour board made a number of rulings – backed by a court order – which limit the number of picketers to 50, allow striking workers to delay vehicles but not prevent them from entering the plant, and prevent O'Halloran from coming to the line.
Friday, after managing to get nine buses of workers into the plant the day before, Lakeside halted production, trying to cool the situation because an altercation had occurred when the workers were trying to leave.
Friday, Premier Ralph Klein said his government won't get involved in the dispute, saying binding arbitration can only be applied when an essential service is affected. In July, his government ordered a disputes inquiry board a day before workers were set to strike, halting any job action for 60 days.
The recommendations, which weren't binding, were accepted by the union, but rejected by Lakeside.
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