Yasir Naqvi
JOHN ROBBINS/Bullet News
FORT ERIE ? Ontario?s minister of finance is going to bat for former Vertis Communications workers, who lost their severance when they were terminated by their bankrupt employer in January.
Yasir Naqi says he has written to his federal counterpart, urging Ottawa to include the workers in a special program that could see the workers receive some money in compensation for the lost pay.
The workers have reportedly been having trouble accessing the federal Wage Earner Protection Plan because the company they woked for declared bankruptcy in the United States, but not in Canada.
?First, let me say that I sympathize with the workers who have lost their jobs,? Naqvi, who was appointed minister of Labour by Ontario?s new Premier Kathleen Wynne only a few weeks ago, told Bullet News.
?I have spoken to (Niagara Falls MPP Kim) Craitor about this and he continues to keep me informed and advocate on behalf of the workers at Vertis.
Naqvi continued:?As you know, the company has declared bankruptcy in the US.
?The federal government has exclusive jurisdiction over bankruptcies and insolvencies. I?ve written to the Federal Minister of Labour asking that the Wage Earner Protection Plan be applied to the workers at Vertis and the terms under which employees of firms that have shut down have access to it are extended to cases like this one.?
Notwithstanding the province?s limited jurisdiction in the case, Naqvi said the provincial Ministry of Labour is investigating complaints stemming for the termination of the workers.
?The Ministry of Labour has received three employment standards claim forms regarding the closure of Vertis Communications,? Naqvi said.
?The ministry is looking into these claims.?
In January, more than 100 employees ? most unionized ? were summarily terminated without severance pay.
The workers claim to be owed up to $2.7 million.
The Eagle Street printing plant is now closed and the equipment, which has been bought by another company, is being removed from the building, according to union officials.
The move came after the assets of its U.S.-parent company was sold through bankruptcy proceedings to another American firm, Quad Graphics.
Union officials have decried the closure, urging the company to live up to its ?legal and moral obligations.?
Former Vertis Communications employees stage a protest outside the Eagle Street plant. Bullet News file photo by John Robbins.
For weeks, a group of workers working in shifts have picketed outside the plant, holding up vehicles entering and leaving the facility in hope that this kind of pressure and public attention will result in the company taking a different stance.
This past weekend, workers demonstrated outside a Niagara Falls hotel where a fundraiser for Niagara Falls Conservative MP Rob Nicholson was being held.
The workers want Ottawa to step up to the plate and help their cause, which has also gained support from provincial and federal New Democrats.
Nicholson?s office has not responded to requests for an interview on the issue this week or last.
Recently, Welland NDP MPP Cindy Forster and Welland NDP MP Malcolm Allen visited the workers on the picket line in Stevensville as a show of solidarity.
Forster and Allen have both raised the issue in the provincial Legislature and federal House of Commons respectively.
Craitor, a member of the provincial Liberal government, has also been down to the line and has been in regular contact with union officials offering whatever assistance is available from his office.
Malcolm Allen
Welland NDP Malcolm Allen?s statement in the House of Commons:
When 100 people lost their job at Vertis Communications in Stevensville, they didn?t think they would be left fighting to get $2.7 million in severance packages and termination pay for which they deserve and this company owes them.
Unfortunately, this is the position they find themselves in after U.S. based Vertis filed for bankruptcy in the United States ? not Canada ? and closed its doors in Canada.
Workers have turned to the federal government to fight on their behalf under the Wage Earner Protection Program, a program designed to compensate eligible workers for unpaid severance and termination pay when their employer declares bankruptcy or goes into receivership.
Just like countless times before however, this government has turned their backs on workers in Niagara ? ignored their pleas for help and once again it is hard working Canadians who are left out in the cold while American companies enjoy millions of dollars of corporate tax breaks.
I would like to say this is an exceptional case, but under this Conservative government?s watch, we are seeing more and more U.S. based companies shut down facilities in Canada, declare bankruptcy in the United States and deny workers what?s owed.
Workers and their families in Niagara are sick and tired of the inaction of this Conservative government when it comes to lost jobs and employee protection from foreign companies.
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