The mood of the workers was
very militant and it is quite clear that they are willing to remain on the
picket lines for as long as it takes to win. Terry McDonald, a member of the
Oshawa Local's bargaining committee, told Fightback, "We're right.
We're going to stay as long as it takes for them to realise that."
The closure of the GM's Oshawa plant announced on June 3rd,
with the loss of 2600 jobs, is a slap in the face to auto workers everywhere.
The reaction of the workers has been a militant one. Canadian Auto Workers
activists blockaded GM headquarters in Oshawa,
refusing to let managers in until they sit down and talk with union leaders. At
the time of writing, the blockade is still up.
On May 29th
approximately 45 people attended a round-table discussion at the Simon Bolivar
Cultural Centre in Montreal, Canada, with Celia Hart and Jorge Martin,
organized by the International Marxist Tendency on "Permanent Revolution and
Trotsky's ideas in Venezuela
and Cuba."