opseu110.ca Feature Article
Fleck Strike
The
"We
didn't strike so much over economic issues as to prove we had the guts to stand
up." Debra Rilly, 24 year old Fleck worker and single mother
of two.
The 70's
were a decade of change for women. What was once called Women's Liberation, now
feminism, gave women the self confidence to leave marriages that didn't work. To find the guts to stand up at home and at work. �The confidence to rewrite
their own lives and the country.
For women
who were a sole support parent in Huron County, Huron Park had the attraction
of very cheap rent and generally better wages than the rest of the county.
About 80% of the plants in the park
were unionized.
Fleck
Manufacturing was the exception. �It had
no union, $2.85 starting salary which
was also the minimum wage, safety concerns, a cozy relationship with the OPP,
lousy benefits. �Many had worked in the
Park for a lighting company that had gone bankrupt.� They went to Fleck because work was
available. �Many said that as bad as the
pay, benefits and working conditions were, it meant that they did not have to
uproot their kids again. They knew that they would not be able to afford the
cost of rent in cities like
But 130
women at Fleck were not shrinking violets.�
As young as most of them were, they had not tolerated marriages that did
not meet their kids' needs or their needs. �When they could not get the company to fix dangerous
machines and pay them decent wages they organized with the UAW. �Of 130 employees, 119 signed union cards and
Fleck workers become local 1620, UAW. The
company from the beginning took the position that no employee would ever have
to pay union dues, contrary to the 1946 Supreme
Court decision of Justice Ivan Rand (The Rand formula). �This was the first but not the only action
taken by the company to break the union and break the law.
The day
before the strike started, the company called all employees to the cafeteria
for a meeting. The guest of honour was on OPP official who read selected
sections of the criminal code. �No
mention was made of their rights. �The
Labour Board later determined that this was intimidating and interference with
the union.
There was a
link between the government and Fleck Industries. �The 50% owner of Fleck was millionaire James
Fleck who was also Deputy Minister of Industry and Tourism.
The
Minister of Labour, Bette Stephenson, claimed that all machines at the factory
were safe and yet inspectors from her ministry locked out five of the eight
machines. �She denied knowledge that the
chief negotiator for the union, Al Seymour, was arrested in the first week and
banned from the township for the duration, or that 10 supporters were arrested
in the first 15 days of the strike, or that Al Seymour�s home and office were
bugged, or that police refused to give their names when they used excessive
force.
The
Attorney General George Kerr refused to resign over allowing OPP abuse of authority.
�Bill Davis, the Premier, failed to
investigate and hold anyone accountable. �Denis McDermott, newly elected President of
the
Twenty-two
employees made the decision to cross the line. Eighty-seven women signed up to
do picket duty. �The strikers knew it
would not be easy but they did not know how difficult it would be. �Julian Hayaski, a
veteran labour reporter at the Free Press commented in one of his articles,
"It is questionable that male strikers would have received the same kind
of treatment." �That observation had
resonance with women across the province.
Labour
women and men were joined on the picket lines.�
Like seasoned labour leaders, these uninitiated supporters were in
denial at what they saw on the picket lines.�
As one labour leader said, "I am speechless. This looks more like
Nazi Germany then
On April
13th, five weeks into the strike, there were 950 OPP officers, 80 cruisers,
five paddy wagons, dogs and trainers and two SWAT teams. �There were mounted closed circuit monitors on
top of the factory as well as company and police photographers. �The police refused to give official numbers of
officers or the cost, however a senior officer told
the Free Press that the normal province-wide OPP was undermined by at least
1000 officers that day. �He estimated
that the cost of the operation was $2.5 million by mid April. �That figure was extremely conservative as it
did not include overtime, meals, hotels, motels and other expenses. �The estimate was at the six week mark and the
strike lasted five months in total. �The
Fleck strike stands as the most expensive policing event in the history of the
OPP. �On a regular basis the Ramada Inn
and the downtown Holiday Inn were used to 'billet' the OPP.
In addition
to the horrific costs of the operation that were paid by the public, the OPP
abused their authority.� As one officer told the Free Press: "I guess we took some of
the wind out of them today. �A lot
of them got a belly full of billies." �Billies are the riot sticks that the officers
used to intimidate the strikers by cracking the sticks against their leather
gloves and to beat on supporters.
At that
time I was in probationary period as a new faculty member. �I was an ardent feminist although in those
days we were called women's libber. �The
support that the union provided to those women had such an effect on me that I
have spent the last three decades as a union activist.
Fran Percy,
one of the strikers said "Women's Lib is a luxury that few can afford."
�Whether the strikers realized it or not,
they were women's libbers or feminists innately. �As one
They were
brave. �Against confusion between the
company and the OPP they stood strong.�
They were wise.� They called a
bully, a bully. �They knew that $3.40 was
as high as anyone could go "unless you let them pinch your ass." �When faced with a supervisor who often bawled
out girls until they were crying, they concluded that this bully liked to make
them cry.�
They did not blame themselves, they
blamed the company, the scabs and the government.
They knew
that better wages and benefits and union security were utterly linked. They
knew that abandoning union security for a wage increase would result in losing
ground as soon as the union was crushed.
They had a
sense of humour.� When faced with 100's
of OPP officers, they donned snow mobile helmets and card board riot sticks and
strutted their stuff on the line. They were often
criticized for their rough talk and they offered the explanation that their
language on the line was the only weapon they had against the power of the OPP
and the company.
I am proud
to say that I started many a morning with a drive to
The 'girls' at Fleck (as Fran would
say), the 'sisters' of Fleck (as I prefer to say), left an indelible mark on my
career. �So many owe much to these
strikers.� --Paddy Musson