UPDATED May 21 at 3:25 p.m.
With union flags fluttering in the breeze, about 150 striking Steelworkers Local 6500 members and their supporters turned their backs on Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci's Cedar Street office May 20, and held a moment of silence.
“I want us to turn our backs, and I want you to mark this moment in your life,” striking Steelworker Jamie West told the crowd.
“I want you to never forget how Rick Bartolucci failed us, and how (Ontario Premier) Dalton McGuinty failed us.”
Bernie Arseneau, another striking Steelworker, said the protesters were not there to ask for the support of Bartolucci in their more than 10-month-long labour dispute against Vale Inco.
“We're here to deliver a message that we've given up on Mr. Bartolucci for now, until he has a change of heart and starts standing up for the people in his community,” he said.
A portable white picket fence was set up on the flower beds outside of Bartolucci's office.
Strikers said the fence symbolized the fact that Bartolucci has been “sitting on the fence” regarding the strike, or remaining neutral.
They also pointed out the fact that he wasn't in attendance when Nickel Belt MPP France Gelinas recently introduced a private member's bill which aims to ban replacement workers in the province.
The event, which was organized as part of “anti-scab month,” included a march from the Steelworkers' Brady Street hall to Bartolucci's office, a rally and a barbecue at the Steelworkers' hall.
Bartolucci's spokesperson, Laura Blondeau, said the MPP was not in the Cedar Street office during the rally. He was in Ottawa May 20 as part of his job as the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services.
The MPP was not immediately available to speak to Northern Life. However, Blondeau issued a statement on behalf of Bartolucci.
“Bartolucci fully supports the right of individuals to protest peacefully and lawfully,” the statement said.
“As he has done strongly and consistently since first elected in 1995, Mr. Bartolucci will continue to strongly oppose the use of replacement workers.
“He continues to work behind the scenes, out of the glare of the media, to facilitate a resolution between Vale Inco and its striking workers and will continue to do so. He too, is anxious to see an end to the current labour disruption.”
West spoke about Bartolucci's many accomplishments as an MPP, including the four-laning of Highway 69, making sure northern cancer patients get adequate travel subsidies and the reduction of class sizes.
“He's got a strong past,” he said. “That's something he should be proud of. But what's happening today is something he should be ashamed of.”
Denis Barbeau, another striking Steelworker, told Northern Life before the rally he think it's extremely important to make the public aware of the importance of getting an anti-replacement worker law in place in Ontario.
“If you look at it, it's your neighbour that's taking your job,” he said. “To give you an example, city workers may go on strike. How would the city workers feel if all of a sudden the Steelworkers decided 'There's no anti-scab law here, we're going to go do their jobs'?”
Judy Searson, a member of the CANARYs, a community group concerned about how Vale Inco's use of replacement workers will impact on the safety of residents, said she thinks Bartolucci should be pushing for an anti-replacement worker law.
“Vale keeps running with scab labour that doesn't know what they're doing,” she said. “Look at how a piece of the stack fell. That could have taken out all of Copper Cliff and half of Sudbury. There would have just been one big crater in the ground. But they still insist on running.”
