On this day in 1978, United Steelworkers union workers in Sudbury, Ontario voted to go on strike to fight proposed layoffs and pay cuts. The strike was the longest in Canadian history until the record was broken by Sudbury workers in 2009.
The layoffs and cuts to pay and benefits were at the multi-national company Inco, which cited low nickel prices as a justification.
According to filmmaker Martin Duckworth, workers voted to strike against the advice of the United Steelworkers hierarchy, and the strike enjoyed national support because Inco was a known polluter and one of the biggest multi-nationals in Canada.
Around 11,600 workers were involved in the strike, which affected the wages sustaining 43,000 people, or about 26% of the population of metropolitan Sudbury. By the end of the strike, nine months later, the company had been deprived of over twenty-two million hours of labor.
The workers won small wage increase and a pension package, however thousands of workers lost their homes and cars because of the length of the strike. According to journalist Amy Miller, since 1979, INCO has fired 20,000 employees from their staff and now have more people receiving payments from the pension roll than pay roll.
The role of women in the community during the strike was profiled in the 1980 documentary film A Wives’ Tale (Une histoire de femmes).
All Out to Support Striking Vale Inco Workers!
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have all of you a good day/night 
People are so brainwashed, and they get annoyed when it gets pointed out. I’m sorry you’re going through that, it really is difficult. I hope you and your partner will be safe and don’t get it. Systemic ableism really is so prevalent. People really would rather stick their heads in the sand than take action based on what’s really going on. Best of luck to you and your partner, comrade. I’m sorry you have to deal with this [/gen]
Thank you for the kind words, the solidarity here really does help.
Makes it easier to keep the mask on too, ngl I too dropped it for work last spring, because I just wasn’t strong enough to keep at it alone.
I’m glad to be of support, comrade. Humans are social creatures and it can be really hard to go against the urge of the herd. On the bright side, though, wearing a mask can make it easier for others around us to mask once they wake up to what’s going on. Your partner’s life is important, and you protect them every time you put it on. Covid can cause permanent disability and death; I hope that your actions can spare your partner from that fate. It really is horrible, to look at the truth of what’s going on, and how so many people are so easily manipulated by the will of capital. When you put on the mask, when you change your plans to be safe, and refuse to go into unsafe situations- you are not alone. Those of us who know, and care, and are taking actions however small, are all around the world. We care about you, about your partner, even if we don’t personally know you. We are glad when you protect your loved ones and yourself. Your life and your partner’s life are precious, and I’m glad you’re doing what you can to defend them.