(The following article is from the September 1-15, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

Another 240 manufacturing jobs bit the dust on August 15 in Kitchener, Ontario, where lawnmower and snowblower producer MTD Products announced the plant would close on October 31. The company's servicing and warehouse operations will remain open, employing 35 people.

     Represented by CAW Local 1524, the workers were told that the high Canadian dollar and the declining U.S. economy were the key problems facing the company, which first threatened to close in 2007.

    Jerry Dias, assistant to CAW National President Buzz Hargrove, said "It's critical that government use the tools at their disposal instead of being passive in the face of what could become an economic avalanche of more bad news and even higher unemployment. People cannot feed their families on government excuses. We need government leadership and industrial policies that support local economies."

     Other recent announcements include General Motor's Truck plant closure in Oshawa, an impending permanent layoff of nearly 200 people at Martinrea's Kitchener Frame, the loss of 225 jobs at Engel Plastics in Guelph. More than 350,000 manufacturing jobs have been slashed across Canada over the past five years.

     Drawing attention to the failure of right-wing politicians to address the crisis, CAW locals in the Chatham, Tilbury, Windsor and Oshawa areas are collecting used work boots and shoes to send to federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

     Each pair of boots will have a tag attached which reads: "Dear Mr. Flaherty, Here are my well used boots. I thought they may be of better use to you, since you have made sure I will never have a need for them again. P.S. Sorry I couldn't remove the blood, sweat and tears from them!"

     Dave Crosswell, executive member of the Windsor and District Labour Council, said the Boot Campaign is intended to remind the federal government that they need to take immediate action to halt manufacturing job losses that are hitting workers, families and communities very hard.

     Crosswell recently told the Windsor Star that Canada needs a manufacturing policy to ensure "fair trade," requiring countries to build or buy as much in Canada as they sell here.