I can talk about the pulp and paper industry because I know the pulp and paper industry quite intimately. That is the industry I worked in prior to taking on this role at FETCO.
In the pulp and paper industry, there is a company called Stora Enso in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia, which had a very lengthy strike in 2005. It lasted approximately nine months. They returned to work for a period of time, and then the mill shut down after the strike was over so the employees and the company could work out an arrangement to improve the cost structure of the mill, which they managed to do.
In that situation, while the employees were not working following the strike, they were entitled to employment insurance benefits because they were in fact laid off by the company and were not engaged in the strike. During that period, the employees and the union found a way to improve the collective agreement, fundamentally for the employer, because the employer was looking to reduce their cost structure. But they found middle ground and they were able to resolve their differences quite handily.
As for other long strikes, J.D. Irving, the Irving companies in eastern Canada, had some long strikes in the various industries that they were engaged in. The purpose of those strikes was around trying to find ways to be more productive and manage their cost base.