ADVISORY: Solidarity Rally for Striking Steelworkers at Richards Packaging - United Steelworkers

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Steelworkers on strike against Rexplas will hold a solidarity rally outside Rexplas’s profitable parent company, Richards Packaging, to pressure Rexplas to negotiate a fair contract.

WHO: Steelworkers members on strike against Rexplas
WHAT: Picketing at Rexplas’s parent company, Richards Packaging
WHEN: Monday, May 10, 2021, 8:00 a.m.
WHERE: Richards Packaging, 6095 Ordan Drive, Mississauga, Ont., L5T 2M7

The 35 members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 8300 – a group that is predominantly racialized women – have been on strike against Rexplas since April 26.

Speakers at the solidarity event include:

Ken Neumann, USW National Director
Carolyn Egan, President, USW Local 8300 and President, Steelworkers Toronto Area Council
Myles Sullivan, Assistant to the USW Ontario Director
Thomas De Sousa, USW Staff Representative

After steadfastly working through the pandemic at a profitable bottle-packaging company, workers at Rexplas in Toronto rejected the company’s final offer on April 23, 2021, that opened with 0%.

The workers do quality control, packaging and shipping, and have worked for the company for as long as 35 years.

Rexplas’s parent company, Richards Packaging, has profited from the pandemic, reporting a 21% revenue increase directly related to business associated with COVID-19.

“Richards and Rexplas are pandemic profiteers with a bottom line that’s better than zero. So, the bottom line is, their workers also deserve better than zero,” said Marty Warren, USW Ontario Director.

Please wear a mask. All attendees will be keeping a safe social distance and observing pandemic public health measures.