By Tera Camus / Cape Breton Bureau
Sydney - The Joint Action Group upheld a recommendation Wednesday to kick
out all members connected to the failed tar ponds incineration project.
After 35 minutes of debate on whether to vote by ballot or by a show of hands, 14
of 36 members voted to accept the report. A total of 75 per cent of members was
needed to reject the recommendation.
Bill McNeil, local president of the United Steelworkers of America, stormed out
after the results were tallied.
"This is a sad day when steelworkers are denied to participate in their futures. I'm
disgusted with you all," he said.
Seven other members of the Joint Action Group followed Mr. McNeil's lead and
quit.
Chairman Bucky Buchanan had pushed for a vote by ballot because of the
controversial nature of the decision made by the group's independent ethics
committee. The committee ruled the workers were in a conflict of interest.
"This has the potential to tear us apart," he said.
The Sydney Environmental Resources workers were not at the meeting. The
provincially funded agency was formerly known as Sydney Tarponds Inc., which
oversaw a failed incineration project that burned $65 million over 10 years and little
else.
The workers had been part of JAG since it was formed in 1996.
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