International Managers Hit Assembly Line At Striking Plant

Plans to bus in temporary workers to International's Chatham, Ontario, facility on Thursday failed, so managers hit the assembly lines.

Plant managers and supervisors reportedly built eight trucks by mid-afternoon on an assembly line that turned out 39 a day before being hit by a strike.
On Thursday, police in Chatham turned back a busload of temporary workers hired as part of the company’s plans to reopen operations.
Police said they wanted to avoid a repeat of a violent incident on Tuesday, in which about 150 striking union employees clashed with workers from a private security firm hired by International at a meeting point outside the plant. Two Canadian Auto Workers union leaders face charges of assaulting a security guard, while one faces an additional charge for smashing a bus window. On Wednesday, local union labor leaders issued a threat of more violence if International moved ahead with plans to use temporary workers.
More than 600 workers affiliated with the CAW hit the picket lines the first of the month in a dispute over company plans to cut pay and other benefits. The latest contract talks were held briefly on Tuesday, and no new ones are scheduled.
In the meantime, International has shifted some of the production to their Escobedo, Mexico plant.