PRINCE RUPERT, B.C. -- Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Taylor Bachrach visited the striking Rio Tinto workers in Kitimat on Wednesday afternoon.
"I wanted more than anything to be here with all of you today to say that you have my support and solidarity," he told the crowd.
"And I bring greetings from Jagmeet Singh, the leader of Canada's NDP. He's holding you in his heart today."
Bachrach said to the workers that times may be tough right now and things might feel pretty uncertain, but the values they're fighting for are important.
"Collective bargaining is where these problems get solved,” he said. “Right now, looking across Canada, a lot of the rights that working people enjoy – and that sometimes get taken for granted – were won. Those rights were won on picket lines, just like this one."
He also said that although he doesn’t know “the ins and outs” of every issue the workers are facing, the results of the strike vote give him cause for concern.
"When you have a historic strike vote of 100 per cent for the first time in the history of this plant and in the history of this community, that means that things have gotten pretty bad,” he said. “I want to wish all of you the best, and I'm going to be holding all of you in my thoughts.”
The strikers at Rio Tinto are now into their fifth day on the picket line.
