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Vol. 81/No. 23 June 12, 2017
Quebec construction workers protest
return-to-work order
BY BEVERLY BERNARDO
MONTREAL — Thousands of striking construction workers from throughout
Quebec demonstrated in Quebec City May 29 to protest the Liberal
government’s decision to invoke Bill 142 ordering them back to work.
Some 175,000 unionized construction workers had walked off the job five
days earlier, striking against concession contract proposals, including
provisions for forced overtime.
The workers are organized in an alliance of construction workers that
includes the Quebec Federation of Labor (FTQ) and the Confederation of
National Trade Unions (CSN) and three other unions. They had been
without a contract with the bosses represented by the Quebec
Construction Association since April 30.
The union alliance organized mass meetings in 11 cities on May 16 to
prepare the strike. The bosses refused to withdraw demands that included
abolishing the five-day workweek, letting employers unilaterally change
workers’ schedules at any time, with no supplementary compensation.
“If the weather is too bad, they will force us to come in on a Saturday,
whatever you have planned. I cannot accept that,” Alain Lebrasseur, a
construction worker on the Champlain Bridge in Montreal, told Global News.
“Employers are asking us to sacrifice time with our families to be
available for work,” said Michel Trépanier, spokesperson for the
alliance of construction unions. “There are limits and they’ve been
reached.”
One striker carried a picket sign showing a ballot with a choice between
family and slavery, with an “x” beside family. The second day of the
strike thousands of unionists demonstrated with their families in
several regions of Quebec.
In the Montreal area hundreds of workers picketed at the huge
construction sites for the Turcot highway interchange, the new Champlain
Bridge, and the CHUM hospital.
From the first day of the strike, Quebec Labor Minister Dominique Vien
threatened to outlaw the strike. Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, whose
administration has poured millions into construction projects in
preparation for the city’s 375th anniversary celebration this summer,
urged the provincial government to step in.
The government used the law to bar any further strike action and impose
mediation through October. After that any unresolved issues will be
subject to binding arbitration. The law gives the workers a 1.8 percent
salary increase until a new contract is reached — lower than the 2.6
percent workers were demanding. The union alliance says it will
challenge Law 142 in the courts.
Four years ago the Quebec government used strikebreaking legislation to
order some 77,000 residential, commercial, and institutional
construction workers back to work.
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