BF Goodrich closing in Kitchener

I have to "break character" for a moment here.

The factory that fed and clothed me, my sister and two brothers, and also paid for a significant portion of my education, is closing in July.

This is a very sad day for a lot of good men and women in the community of Kitchener-Waterloo, the community where I was born and raised. Thankfully, my dad, who has worked there since 1968, is almost 56 years old and was planning on retiring in a couple of years anyways. But, for a lot of folks, many of whom are extremely uneducated, this is terrible. The last time this union local's contract was up for negotiation, the union struck for (I think) 3-4 weeks. And oddly enough, the date that the plant is closing down, July 22, is the date the current contract expires. Interestingly enough, a few weeks ago, the parent company of BF Goodrich just announced a $92-million investment in a (non-unionized) Nova Scotia plant.

Once again, the inflexibility of a labour union has had a horrific impact on its own membership. At this plant, when I worked there 10 years ago, people were making between $20 and $25 per hour to drive forklifts, which equates to about $45K a year. People who were building tires were making up to $80K with overtime. Not bad for a lot of guys who didn't even have high school, even by 2006 standards. And still, this wasn't enough for the union leadership. Well, in the words of Tony Montana, "look at you now". 1100 unskilled labourers are out of work.

Well done, labour. Well done.