Workers at Viterra in Bécancour have been on strike for over three months. The bosses of this canola and soy refinery have turned a deaf ear to the strikers’ demands.
In addition to their demands on leave and vacations, the main demand is for an increase in wages. During the last contract, workers lost over five per cent of their purchasing power. This struggle underlines the need to fight for wages to be indexed to the cost of living.
The plant supplies nearly 75 per cent of Quebec’s needs in oils and shortenings for bakery products and margarine, and also produces animal feed. This long strike will be used as an excuse to raise prices in grocery stores and divide workers. Don’t let them divide us!
What we communists are saying is that Viterra, and the whole agri-food industry, should be nationalized under the democratic control of the workers! This is the only way to provide healthy, sustainable food for all, free from the greed of the bosses.
