SUDBURY, Ont. — Picketing Canadian Goodyear employees with empty pockets got a bit of relief this week when the United Steelworkers union handed more than $15,000 to striking plant workers and their families.

The union raised the cash through plant gate collections in Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie. Organizers also distributed turkeys on Goodyear picket lines in Collingwood, Owen Sound and Toronto.

“At no time of year is it easy to be on strike, but this time of year is especially difficult,” said USW Ontario/Atlantic Director Wayne Fraser. “Our
members in Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie and elsewhere know what it’s like and they have shown their willingness to help. Generosity is a Steelworker tradition.”

The 400 workers were among 14,000 across 16 plants in North America who have been on strike for 10 weeks.

Both the tire maker and the union have taken a hard line over company plans to close plants and slash employee benefits.

Goodyear insists it must cut spending to offset rising raw material costs and competition from cheaper, overseas manufacturers.

The union, however, says the company wants to layoff workers in order to expand importing tires manufactured in low-wage countries.

“This fight is not just about Goodyear,” said Fraser. “It’s about maintaining jobs and manufacturing in Canada. The drain on families and communities has got to stop. The Goodyear strikers are a vanguard in the fight to save Canadian jobs.”