Canadian Power Workers Seek to Keep Power Plants Open

ICEM affiliate Power Workers’ Union (PWU) of Canada is protesting the province of Ontario’s decision to close five coal-fired power plants by 2007. The public-sector union took ad space in major provincial newspapers to say the US$8.2 billion in shutdown costs will be a further burden on price rates—already up 25% for most provincial customers—and the answer to Ontario’s energy future is a combination of nuclear power and better clean-coal technologies.