As it hauls its billions in profits south of the border, Caterpillar executives should make a detour and stop in Ottawa to drop off the money they owe Canadian taxpayers. Failing that, the Conservative government should be waiting for them at the border demanding the tax break and handout cash
Continue readingTag: caterpillar inc.
Politics and its Discontents: Martin Regg Cohn On The Wider Implications of the Electro-Motive Debacle
So the first lesson of the London massacre: Ottawa must be vigilant about vetting foreign investment and retaining jobs, but also mindful of valuing — and anchoring — our homegrown intellectual property. Why underwrite our companies if we willingly sell off our embedded brainpower to foreign bidders who leave Canada
Continue readingbastard.logic: The New 1% Doctrine in Action (Electro-Motive Diesel Edition)
While many the US were celebrating seemingly positive job numbers yesterday, for London, Ontario residents such news was caustic, rock salt poured into a gaping wound. WSWS: Caterpillar subsidiary Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) has announced that it is transforming the lockout at its London, Ontario diesel-locomotive manufacturing facility into a plant closure. Six
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Educate, Educate, Resist
I have to admit that nowadays I am feeling the pessimism of old strongly reemerging, not to the point of giving up my blog and whatever value it might serve in the fight against the extremists who now control the Canadian government, but to the point where I realize that
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Regg Cohn’s Thoughts on Catterpillar Inc.
I don’t have too much time this morning, but I highly recommend Martin Regg Cohn’s piece, which offers, amongst other things, a contrast between how long-serving Conservative Ontario Premier Bill Davis treated labour, and the current do-nothing philosophies of Dalton McGuinty and Steven Harper: The former Tory premier of Ontario
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Voice of Labour Roars
Although those in the embrace of neo-liberalism would have us believe that unions and worker solidarity are but a quaint historical artifact, the size of yesterday’s rally in London, Ontario protesting the predatory practices of Catterpillar Inc. suggests otherwise. In response to the company’s attempt to halve the wages of
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Canada’s Occupy and labor activists rally against Caterpillar’s state-sponsored corporate greed
Occupy Ottawa activists are expected to join thousands of Canadian Occupy and labour activists in London, Ont., on Saturday, January 21, for a massive rally against Electro-Motive Diesel Canada. The company, a subsidiary of U.S. …Read More
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Linda McQuaig on Harper’s Anti-Labour Policies
Drawing comparisons between Republican animus toward labour and Harper government policies that permit the kind of outrageous corporate behaviour unfolding at Electro-Motive Canada, Linda McQuaig’s column in today’s Star warns us of what is ahead for workers in Canada. Two key excerpts provide the tone of her piece: Harper played
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Star Reader’s Perspective On Caterpillar Inc.
I have been offline for the past several days, the reason for which I may write about later. For now, I am taking the liberty of reproducing the excellent lead letter appearing in the print edition of today’s Star in which the writer, Dr. Robert Bahlieda, offers some penetrating insights
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Star’s Gloomy Assessment of Corporate Depradations
Today’s Star editorial offers a gloomy but apparently realistic assessment of the direction Canada’s manufacturing is headed in. Abetted by the federal and Ontario McGuinty provincial governments’ seeming indifference to the corporate depredations underway, the most recent occurring at Electro-Motive Canada, and unions that are hamstrung by the refusal of
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Caterpillar, Inc. – A Reprehensible Corporate ‘Citizen’
When I think of caterpillars (which, until recently, I have to admit, has been rarely), I think of a slow-moving yet determined creature on its way to metamorphosis, often into something quite beautiful. Unfortunately, that gentle imagery must be cast aside when considering Caterpillar Inc., an ugly corporate entity intent
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Caterpillar Locks Out Employees at London Plant
After unilaterally imposing the terms of its last contract offer on its workers, terms of which entail the halving of wages and a substantial reduction in benefits, Electro-Motive Canada, a subsidiary of U.S. industrial giant Caterpillar Inc., has locked out its Lomdon-based workers. The Harper government, which permitted the company’s
Continue reading