There’s been a noisy demonstration outside the constituency office of Hamilton East–Stoney Creek MP Bob Bratina.
About 100 members of the United Steelworkers Union, carrying flags and banners, gathered along Centennial Parkway on Thursday afternoon to demand an apology for recent alleged incidents.
At a meeting about pensions and insolvency issues on Feb. 26, the steelworkers claim Bratina went on a profanity-laced tirade, then kicked union members out of his Ottawa office and slammed the door.
Bratina denies swearing at the members and says the meeting ended when it became personal and unproductive. He insists that the protest is a result of “false accusations.”
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“It was clear that a productive conversation was not going to take place and I ended the meeting,” Bratina said in an email to Global News.
Steelworkers Local 1005 President Gary Howe says they also want Bratina removed from the All-Party Steel Caucus, and he pledges to actively campaign against him ahead of this fall’s federal election to “get him removed at the ballot box.”
In response to Howe’s statement that Bratina “hasn’t really done anything” as a member of the steel caucus, the MP countered by saying his government is “carrying out a promise to find ways to protect workers and pensioners,” and by pointing to his past participation on picket lines.
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— With files from Anthony Urcioli
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