May Day march in Hamilton

A May Day march took place in Hamilton’s industrial area late Thursday afternoon.

Today is May Day. It’s celebrated around the world as an international day for workers rights. Here in Hamilton, a march took place right through the steel working area. Many of those buildings shut down now. The workers are marching for what they say is a decrease in local manufacturing — too many international companies coming. And they say those companies are taking away jobs.

They have two main messages. They’re marching against the lockout at MANA’s (Max Aicher North America) Hamilton plant. That’s a German company. It’s lasted roughly 40 weeks so far.

They’re also marching against the U.S. Steel closure of steel production at the Hamilton plant. The union says the trend toward international companies taking over the Canadian market is harmful to both the workers and their pensions. They said that the government lets these companies come in making promises of job creation and they don’t follow through. They now want the government to step in and do something.

Rolf Gerstenberger is President of United Steelworkers Local 1005: “Here was where they announced they were going to shut steel making down in Hamilton last October. The industry minister says ‘well, that’s just a busines decision. I’m not going to do anything’. But meanwhile, they do when they’re handing out hundreds of millions of dollars to companies, they get involved in business decisions.”

Pensions are one of the big issues of concern when international companies are coming in. Now that steel production is closed at U.S. Steel, there are only six hundred workers there supporting 8,000 pensioners. So certainly, an issue of concern on today’s May Day.