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Job Security Remains #1 Issue For Unifor Local 88

Credit: Marcie Culbert, Heart FM News

We have now entered day four of the strike at the GM Cami assembly plant in Ingersoll.

INGERSOLL - Workers continue to walk the picket lines in front of the GM Cami Assembly plant in Ingersoll this morning. 

The strike started on Sunday night at 11 p.m. after the two sides failed to reach an agreement. 

Roughly 2,800 people work at the plant and thousands of others work at other parts manufacturing plants in the region that rely on CAMI. Some of the workers at supplier factories have been given lay off notices until the strike is lifted. 

Despite that Mike Van Boekel, the plant chair for Unifor Local 88 says they have gotten a lot of support from the workers at those supplier factories. 

"We are getting very good support from almost everyone, there are few that aren't we understand that, it starts to get hard on peoples families and livilhoods when they are losing their jobs or being laid off. We are very aware of that, we are very aware that it's not just 2,800 lives that we are impacting but then again if our goes down, all those jobs are gone, so we like to think we are not just fighting for ourselves but our suppliers as well." 

Van Boekel says the number one issue for them remains job security. 

"We told GM there is no way we are coming back to the table, whether it's a month or 6 months unless there is some form of job security for our members, they just bit us two months ago when they took one truck to Mexico, we've got one truck left and we are not playing that game again." 

This Friday Unifor 88 is sending members to a public rally in Ottawa for a rally urging government to commit to negotiating stronger labour standards in NAFTA. Busses will leave from Ingersoll at 7:00 a.m. 

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