The recession’s aura of fear does not appear to have daunted the resolve of aggrieved Canadian workers in the slightest — indeed, strikes were twice as prevalent in the opening three months of 2009 than a year earlier, when times were better.

Labour experts say that’s likely because, while workers do fear for their jobs in a time of high unemployment, that’s overcome by anger at what is seen as employer hypocrisy — asking for concessions while appearing to refuse to make any.

The first quarter of 2009 saw almost twice as many work days lost to labour disputes as the same period in 2008, according to Statistics Canada.

Major strikes currently underway include those by outside workers in the cities of Windsor and Toronto; miners at Vale Inco in Sudbury, Ont., Port Colborne, Ont., and Voisey’s Bay, N.L.; and paramedics in B.C.

The city workers in Ontario were driven to hit the picket lines by “an element of ‘Do as I say, not as I do“’ in negotiations with Toronto and Windsor, says Paul Moist, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

“In Windsor, city councillors who survive four terms, that’s 16 years, get retiree benefits for life. The mayor tried to change that and council said, ‘No, we’re not changing that, but we want that changed for the CUPE workforce.”

Moist said Toronto’s city council also angered workers when it voted to give itself a raise in February, then asked its outside workers — including garbage collectors, day-care employees and water treatment workers — to accept a pay freeze in 2009.

“Many commentators have blistered that council, saying, ‘Wait a minute, how can you take a 2.4% wage increase?’ The recession was occurring in February, and now you say to someone who cleans washrooms or picks up garbage for a living, ‘Have zero,”’ Moist said.

In the private sector, there’s an even deeper sense of distrust, as many see major corporations as primarily responsible for the financial crisis and the global recession that followed.

In the northern Ontario city of Sudbury, employees of international nickel miner Vale Inco hit the picket lines on Monday after failing to ratify a contract that proposed eliminating a bonus tied to the price of nickel. It would also move new employees into a defined-contribution pension plan, instead of allowing them to join the defined-benefit plan that already exists.

The United Steelworkers, which represents more than 3,000 Vale Inco workers in Sudbury, saw Vale’s demands and immediately questioned how they would benefit the company in the short run, said Steelworkers economist Erin Weir.

“Scaling back the bonus plan would only have an effect if things rebound and the bonus plan starts paying again, and similarly, getting rid of defined-benefit pensions for new hires would only save the company money 30 years from now when those workers retire,” Weir said.

“It’s not really about cutting costs right now, it’s more about using the current crisis as a way to try to save money down the road. Employers are pressing whatever advantage they think they have as a result of the crisis and unions are resisting that.”

Alan Hall, director of labour studies at the University of Windsor, said it’s unusual to see workers so willing to embark on major strikes during an economic slowdown.

This willingness likely illustrates a resentment workers feel towards their employers for appearing to want to pass the brunt of the recession onto the backs of their employees while continuing to enjoy raises, benefits — and often huge bonuses — themselves.

“I think part of the reason the workers are willing to stay out in these kinds of conditions is they see the causes of the current recession and crisis as being clearly not of their making, and that there’s a certain level of anger that’s out there that can be mobilized,” Hall said.

Statistics Canada data show that the equivalent of 271,370 eight-hour work days were lost to work stoppages in the first quarter of 2009, the most recent period for which numbers are available. This is almost double the 137,780 work days lost in the first quarter of 2008, before the recession started.

Labour disputes were recently resolved with National Steel Car employees in Hamilton, teaching assistants, contract faculty and graduate assistants at York University in Toronto and transit workers in Ottawa.

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With no movement on the bargaining table during the weekend, it’s looking like pickets will be going up at Vale Inco on July 12.

“I think a strike is imminent,” said Wayne Fraser, United Steelworkers District 6 director. “Unfortunately … they haven’t changed position since April.”

The negotiating team for Vale Inco Ltd. presented United Steelworkers Locals 6500 and 6200 (Port Colborne) with the company’s settlement proposal Friday. The deadline for an agreement is July 12 — an extension agreed upon by both parties when the contract expired on May 31.

“We continue to work and we hope that a collective agreement can be reached but, at this time, that seems very unlikely,” said John Fera, president of USW Local 6500, in a press release.

Company spokesman Steve Ball insisted Friday that his company’s negotiating team was hard at work trying to reach a deal with the union despite Steelworker complaints there had been no give or take in negotiations.

All eight members of Vale Inco’s bargaining committee were on hand for the presentation of the company’s settlement proposal Friday, said Ball, although two members of the team have been absent for “a couple of days, a couple of times,” attending to other duties.

“Right now, it doesn’t look like Vale is interested in negotiating a deal,” Fraser said. “They’re more interested in picking a fight with Sudbury. It’s very unfortunate, very disappointing. The bargaining committee is very upset that there has been no movement.

“It’s like people from out of town, coming in to impose their will on us.”

Vale Inco is seeking concessions in Steelworkers’ bonuses and wants to introduce a new, less lucrative pension plan for new hires, he said.

“This is about using the recession and these bad times to try to take advantage of the people who have made this company over $4.5 billion in 2 1/2 years,” Fraser said.

“We’ve been trying to negotiate a fair collective agreement, knowing that we’re in a situation with the economy that isn’t as good as we would like it to be. So, we’ve responded accordingly with our proposals.”

Vale Inco officials continue to insist the Brazilian-owned company does not want a labour dispute and is committed to reaching a settlement before July 12.

Vale Inco also took the unprecedented step of launching a website to inform members about the progress of contract talks, with the promise to eventually post its settlement offer online after the union has had time to consider it.

Vale Inco’s new website — www.valeinconegotiations.com–was launched Thursday, said Ball, and employees were notified about it via e-mail this week.

The website isn’t an attempt by Vale Inco to make an end-run around the union, but rather to give employees access to important information, he said.

Locals 6500 and 6200 also have a website — www.local6500usw.ca– which can be accessed by members for regular updates from the bargaining committee.

“We’ll report to our membership. They’ll make a decision about what they want to do,” said Fraser.

“We’re pretty confident at what that’s going to be. It’s unfortunate they’re blackmailing the people who made them so much money. They’re blackmailing the community because those nickel price bonuses don’t just belong to the members … they actually belong to the community. The whole economy in northeastern Ontario does well by these bonuses.”

What’s happening

* Union member information sessions are scheduled for Wednesday at 1 and 8 p. m. and Thursday at 1 p. m. at Garson Arena;

* Ratification votes are

scheduled for Friday at a number of locations and Saturday from 9 a. m.-3 p. m. at the Steelworkers’ Hall on Pine Street;

* Members gave the union a 90% strike mandate in May, but John Fera said last week another strike vote would be called before members hit picket lines;

* Vale Inco’s Ontario operations have been in a production shutdown since June 1 and are expected to resume operation July 27.

* July 12 was set as a date for the current contract extension because workers will be required to be on the job for two weeks to get operation sites ready for July 27, Steve Ball, a spokesperson for Vale Inco, told The Star earlier.

* The current contract that expired May 31 was extended to July 12, but Fraser said his bargaining team would have to have a final offer for members to consider by the end of this weekend.

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The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 140, a day after rejecting a tentative agreement it forged in early June with Air Canada, is dangling an assurance of industrial peace when Vancouver hosts the 2010 Winter Olympic Games and the Paralympics.

The mechanics and technical personnel, fearing losing their work to El Salvador, want an assurance of job protection and better pay in exchange for a promise of no industrial action when Canada hosts the winter games next year.

IAMWA Local 140 president Chuck Atkinson hinted to Globe and Mail, “It might be a black eye for Canada is there were a strike during the Olympics or if Air Canada went into bankruptcy protection before then.”

A ratified labor agreement is one of the keys Air Canada need to secure $600 million in emergency financing and to avoid a second bankruptcy proceeding.

However, all hope is not yet lost for Canada’s largest air carrier, which is also a major sponsor of the Vancouver games since the IAMAW expressed willingness to sit down this week with Air Canada representatives and mediator and former Ontario judge James Farley.

If Farley manages to convince the IAMAW Local 714 and Air Canada to come up with an amended collective agreement, another round of ratification would take place. In the last ratification, 50.3 percent of machinist and other technical employees belonging to the local rejected the labor deal, while clerical and finance workers overwhelmingly approved the agreement.

Air Canada has a sister company in El Salvador, where IAMAW member suspect the bulk of their work will be moved. The air carrier declined to comment on the threat of an Olympic strike.

Air Canada is the official airline of the 2010 athletic event. To drum up support for the Paralympics, the air carrier promised in March to donate $1 for every online booking made from March 16 to 22. It is part of the airline’s $750,000 pledge to the Canadian Paralympic Committee, which is spread over seven years.

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CAW members from across southwestern Ontario are converging in Brantford and setting up a blockade around a Brantford automotive parts company.

“We’re here and we’re not leaving until we know that our members are going to get every dime they’re entitled to,” Steve Farkas, the CAW’s area director, said while standing in the parking lot by the loading docks of Meridian Automotive Services on Tuesday.

“We’ve got workers from Brantford, Woodstock, Kitchener already and we have more on the way,” he said.

The company makes a variety of plastic components for the auto industry. As well, it makes plastic ink bottles for Xerox. The plant remains open and CAW members employed by Meridian remain on the job.

However, there are fears the plant will close and when workers, represented by CAW 636 out of Woodstock, learned some Xerox equipment was about to be loaded onto a truck and moved out of the plant Tuesday, the call went out and CAW members from other locals began gathering at the Henry Street plant.

The blockade was prompted by fears about the future of Meridian in Brantford and the security of severance pay and other money that might be owing to the workers.

According to Farkas, Meridian Automotive is in the process of selling many of its assets, some of which will be sold to a company called Flex-N-Gate, a company in Tecumseh, Ontario, that makes bumper assemblies. However, Flex-N-Gate apparently isn’t interested in the Brantford facility, Farkas said.

CAW officials are worried that Meridian will file for reorganization under Chapter 11 bankruptcy and in the process close the Brantford facility. If that happens, CAW officials are worried the money owned Canadian workers will be last on the list when it comes to paying off creditors.

The situation has made companies like Xerox nervous and anxious to get their equipment out of the Brantford plant.

CAW officials, meanwhile, are adamant that no equipment leave the plant until the situation is clarified and resolved.

The blockade will remain in place 24 hours a day, seven days a week until the issues are resolved, Farkas said.

Employment at the plant dropped to about 90 from about 300 over the last few years as demand for its products dropped.

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