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Protesting Workers Getting Community Support

Friday, 27 January 2012 08:36

The solidarity in Ingersoll extends beyond the union colours. The CAW protest is being supported by the greater community in a variety of ways. Several restaurants have been bringing food to the workers out at the picket. This includes Louie's Restaurant. Nick Wilhelm is the boyfriend of the Owner, Cindy Lou Skater, and says they back the workers 100 per cent. "Ya, we feel very strongly about it. Back a few years ago when IMT was on strike, we did the same thing, sent a lot of pizzas out to the picket line, and we plan on doing the same thing in this situation." But Wilhelm adds he hopes the protest doesn't drag out for too much longer. "They've got families to support, they've got kids, they need to go back to work." Oleyland Safety Footwear took the step of booting all Caterpillar products off of its store shelves this week. Store Owner Jackie Curry says they're simply catering to the demands of their customers. "Many of our customers that work at unionized companies have requested that we temporarily remove CAT branded products from our selection. We decided that we would grant their request as we have a huge product selection even without this specific brand. We are not directly involved in this current dispute but many of our loyal customers are sensitive to this issue." Curry says it's not a huge hit to her store, as the CAT brand only makes up 3% of their total inventory. But the solidarity even showed on the first day of the picket, a group of IDCI high school students purchased a box of Tim Bits during their lunch break, and gave them to the picketers.

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