For 36 years, Jim Smith has reported to the old Lever Brothers soap factory at the foot of the Don Valley Parkway. For 14 months, a padlocked gate has kept him and more than 100 other striking workers outside.
Today, Smith and the other workers will dismantle the picket line and walk away from the now-bankrupt plant for good.
To where, he doesn’t know.
“A lot of us have been trying to go out and get jobs, but we don’t have much skills,” said the 59-year-old. “We just know that factory. That’s it.”
The drawn-out strike ended yesterday after the plant’s owner, Korex Don Valley, filed for bankruptcy, leaving the 110 remaining picketers searching for work.
Korex Don Valley owes upwards of $12 million, said Stephen Funtig, the trustee handling the receivership.
