Ford Test Track Rally


Went for a walk this morning, along with 35,000 other citizens of Windsor and Essex County. My group set out from the Chrysler Minivan Plant and merged with two other streams for a rally at the Ford Test Track Park. The event was called to show support for local Canadian manufacturing.

After several short speeches from community leaders the two featured speakers were CAW president Buzz Hargrove and Local 444 president Ken Lewenza. They called for the federal government to challenge the Japanese and Koreans to open up their markets to North American products or face trade sanctions. Fair trade and managed sectoral trade were the slogans of the day.

The Windsor area has lost over 18,000 manufacturing jobs in the last few years. Many parts plants have gone bankrupt, Ford is closing two more plants this year, and General Motors doesn't have any products planned for its transmission plant after the current run is completed. Unemployment in the area is the highest in Canada.

The Star already has an article up about the rally. Update: Monday coverage here and here.

The rally organizers have a website of their own: Our Jobs, Our Communities, Our Future!

Local 444 has a special newsletter (pdf) on the manufacturing crisis.

Here are some of my pictures. Despite the umbrellas it never really rained that hard.



















Posted: Sun - May 27, 2007 at 05:49 PM          

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