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﻿<title﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, UCFW Forces End to Canada Bread Strike - Article﻿</title>﻿
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﻿<b﻿>﻿UCFW Forces End to Canada Bread Strike 
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by Claudia White﻿<br﻿>﻿
﻿<i﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, August - September 1998﻿</i>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿
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Angry members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1993 had their strike ended by their union's National Office in late July. The workers, employees of Canada Bread in Toronto, began their strike on June 10th of this year. After picket lines had been up more than six weeks, the UFCW national leadership agreed with the employer to submit the dispute to arbitration - without so much as consulting the membership, including the elected stewards and bargaining committee.
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The members of Local 1993 were seeking only modest improvements to their working conditions, benefits and wages in a first collective agreement. The scheduling of hours was a particular concern. The workers never have a scheduled weekend off. Contract demands also included respect for seniority and recognition of religious holidays.
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A general bakery worker at the plant has a starting wage of $8.40 an hour and never reaches more than $9.40 per hour. Compare this with a starting hourly wage of more than $12 at other unionized plants in the industry. Although production is 24-hours a day, the workers receive no shift premiums. Compulsory overtime is rampant, with workers averaging 57-60 hours per week.
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With the company holding that production and profits are more important than the modest demands of the workers to improve their quality of life, the UFCW National Office recommended accepting the contract offered by the employees. When the members rejected the offer, the union leadership went so far as to organize a second meeting to have them vote on the same contract. The vote, which had been organized without any consultation among the members or their elected leaders in the workplace, did not take place as the membership shut down the meeting.
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On July 21, a representative of the UFCW National Office left letters for the members stating that the union and Canada Bread management had voluntarily agreed to refer the dispute to an independent arbitrator. They added: "THE STRIKE WILL END AT 12 NOON TODAY." Again the members, including the stewards, were not consulted! For several days the members refused to take their picket lines down and return to work, demanding to see the application for arbitration. 
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The solidarity and determination of Local 1993 members has remained strong. And the confidence they showed in confronting their employers was inspiring. During the course of the strike they made important connections with other trade unionists, students and groups organizing the unemployed, underemployed, homeless and working poor.
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The members of UFCW Local 1993 have had to return to work on pain of losing their jobs. Their strike stands as a confirming instance of the force that solidarity among rank and file workers represents. To the shame of the UFCW National Office, they have operated only to undermine a potentially successful strike.
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﻿<font﻿ ﻿size="1"﻿>﻿Claudia White is an activist in CUPE Local 79 in Toronto.﻿</font>﻿</font>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

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