As the days get shorter and the temperature drops, we fill December with celebration. We light candles and decorate trees. We share food and warm drinks. We exchange gifts with family and friends. We fill our houses, and our workplaces, with warmth, as if to defy the chill outside.
The holiday season is also about thinking about those who, for one reason or another, will find it difficult to celebrate. It’s in this spirit that the MGEU, along with the Manitoba Federation of Labour, spearheaded a campaign in support of the locked out Tembec workers in Powerview-Pine Falls.
While the paper mill in Pine Falls was one of the few TEMBEC locations to remain profitable, the company demanded crippling concessions from its employees this past summer. When the workers voted to strike, Tembec locked them out and said they would be closing the mill.
It’s been extremely difficult on the entire community, including local businesses. By the time December rolled around, many locked out workers had no finances left even for the necessities.
So MGEU members and staff began working with other labour groups to see what they could do to make the season just a little brighter for the locked out workers and this struggling town. Hampers were put together and enough money was raised to present each striking worker with a $100 gift certificate to any participating business in the area.
At this point, no one knows exactly how or when this lock out will end. But this December, hundreds of us throughout Manitoba came together to help hundreds of families, and I would like to thank everyone who contributed.
As many of us take a break from work to spend time with family and friends, I wish all of you the best of the season, and a happy, healthy, and peaceful New Year.
Peter Olfert