'Come on Harper. Stop hiding': Protesters greet Prime MinisterBy Frances Barrick, Record staff
Web edition
More than 50 workers loudly protested during Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s stop in Kitchener this morning, saying the Conservative government hasn’t done enough to protect their manufacturing jobs.
But their demonstration went unheeded by the prime minister as idling Harper campaign buses and a wall of police separated the protesters from Harper as he announced a $5,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers.
“Come on Harper. Come and see us. Stop hiding,” Karl De Forest shouted through a megaphone. “Come on. You’re a coward.”
At 44, De Forest faces being laid off early next year as the slump in the automotive industry is threatening his job at the Lear Corp.'s plant on Manitou Road in Kitchener. He’s worked there for 24 years.
Two years ago, Lear had 750 employees. Today, there are 215.
“I don’t think his government will be able to get a seat in a restaurant, never mind in Parliament,” De Forest said.
Stephen Woodworth, the Conservative candidate for Kitchener Centre, said Harper chose not to speak to the protesters because they were discourteous.
“They are here with sirens and megaphones,” Woodworth said. ‘It is hard to speak with a megaphone in your face.”
Mike Devine, president of Local 1451 of the Canadian Auto Workers which represents employees of Kitchener Frame, formerly Budd Canada, blamed the government for not erecting trade barriers to stem the flow of Canadian manufacturing jobs overseas and to Mexico.
In 1996, Kitchener Frame employed 3,000. On Friday, after the latest round of layoffs, there will be 110 jobs, he said.
The plant is slated to close next year, but the union continues to negotiate its survival with the company owner. “We don’t have a drop dead date yet,” Devine said.
On Friday, Dave Leitch, 40, will be joining the growing ranks of local jobless people. His job at Kitchener Frame ends after 12 years.
Leitch is worried about what job future his son -- who turns seven months Friday -- will have if the current loss of manufacturing jobs continues.
“Those jobs are gone. It’s over,” he said. “At some point the bleeding has to stop.”
http://news.therecord.com/sections/Elec ... cle/415641
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