UFCW Canada Local 175 members are on strike against their employer National Car Rental, a subsidiary of Enterprise Rent-A-Car which is owned by the privately owned multi-million dollar company Crawford Group Inc.

The 95 workers voted down the most recent ‘offer’ from the company at a vote held March 10, 2011. Workers will be picketing at the Garage and Terminals 1 and 3 at Pearson International Airport handing out information flyers to consumers looking to rent vehicles through National.

“The employer, whose parent company is Enterprise, tabled numerous concessions in this round of negotiations and threatened to contract out the workers’ jobs if they didn’t achieve $2 million in savings,” explains Local 175 President Shawn Haggerty. “It’s one of the most successful car rental companies in the world and these kinds of demands are unwarranted. The workers are taking a stand with the full support of their Union.”

“These concessions constitute nothing more than an attempt to gut this contract. These workers make a fair wage right now and if the company gets its way some workers would face losing up to $4.50 an hour, making them the lowest paid in the industry,” adds Brother Haggerty.

In addition to dramatic wage cuts, the company’s insulting demands include reducing sick days and eliminating religious holidays. They want to decrease vacation pay and weaken seniority pro­­visions by assigning overtime at the company’s discretion. The employer is also looking to force employees to pay 100% of the premiums for their health and welfare benefits.

“Local 175 and its striking members have the union’s full support,” says UFCW Canada National President Wayne Hanley. “National Car Rental and its parent companies need to be fully aware that their employees not only have the complete support of Canada’s largest private-sector local union, but they also have over 1.3 million United Food and Commercial Workers on their side, whose voices and resources are fully committed to making sure workers get a fair deal.”

To find out more about this important fight, go to ufcw175.com.