Fellow Workers,
Shortly after the Liverpool dockworkers were fired
in September 1995 by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company (MDHC) for refusing
to cross a picket line the MDHC employed the services of Drake International
to recruit the casual, scab labourers who have been working in the Port
of
Liverpool ever since. This is of particular significance to those of us
in
Canada because Drake International is a Canadian company that operates here
under the name Drake Personnel Services. I know this for a fact because
the
person who ansewred a call from me to one of Drake's offices confirmed that
Drake has offices in Europe.
This means that there are two critical connections between Canadian corporations and the dispute in Liverpool. One involves Canadian Pacfic whose shipping subsidiary Canadian Maritime Services Inc. or CanMar has continued to use the scab Port of Liverpool throughout this dispute. CP also owns the CAST vessels used by CanMar. The other connection involves Drake International. So there are two Canadian targets for solidarity activity.
To that end I would like to remind you that Canadian Pacific is based in Calgary, Alberta and its CEO is Mr. Rob Ritchie. Mr. Ritchie's needs to be told what workers in this country and elsewhere think of his subsidiary continuing to use the scab Port of Liverpool and making it possible for the MDHC to continue to lock out the fired Liverpool dockworkers. His fax number is: (403) 205-9000
I would also like to inform you that Drake Personnel Services is a target especially ripe for the picking. Drake has offices in most major Canadian cities (and probably in many major U.S. cities). Furthermore, in Toronto and Montreal it has both downtown offices and offices in other parts of these two cities. These offices are obviously potential targets for picketing. They will also make it very inexpensive to inundate this international scab recruiting firm with faxes and phone calls protesting Drake's central role in the Liverpool dispute. In addition, it is worth noting that the Liverpool dockworkers report that in Drake's office in London, England there is a poster on the wall which mocks the Liverpool dockworkers as "endangered species". Need I say more?
The following are some of the phone and fax numbers for Drake in Canada. Please note that I was unable to locate an office in Vancouver and please circulate these phone and fax numbers as widely and as creatively as possible.
Drake Personnel Services
Montreal: tel. (514) 281-1970
fax (514) 281-8403
Ottawa: tel. (613) 237-3370
fax (613) 237-2901
Toronto: tel. (416) 216-1000
fax. (416) 363-6489
Calgary: tel. (403) 266-8971
fax (403)262-1045
