Seventy women, members of COPE Local 343, have been on strike against the FirstOntario Credit Union in Hamilton, Ontario since October 20, 2006. The workers are striking because of management demands to roll back health, vacation and retirement benefits. Also at issue are job security provisions in the collective agreement.
More information from the union perspective is available here, where you will find a series of strike bulletins. What little information FirstOntario is providing, is available here, as far as I can discover from their web site.
As a life-long credit union member in Winnipeg, it breaks my heart to see supposedly co-operative institutions abusing their workers. COPE 343 deserves our support, not only because their demands are just, but because their bosses need to learn that credit unions should not do their business on the backs of their employees. (How ironic it is that FirstOntario grew out of credit unions set up in the 1930s and 1940s by trade union members who wanted a cooperative institution to provide financial services to working people!)
One way to show your solidarity with COPE 343 members, is to point your web browser to Labour Start. There you can send a clear message to the management of FirstOntario. In doing so, you will also be sending a supportive message to the members of COPE 343.
Paul S. Graham 