The 35 members of the Union of Archivex Workers (STTA) have been without a contract since Dec. 31, 2002. The company is proposing a five-year wage freeze and bonus pay tied to hours worked. It also wants to transfer 25 percent of the cost of group medical insurance onto union members.

The workers, whose union is affiliated to the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN), launched their strike on September 10. Two months later they voted unanimously to reject the company’s “revised” offer.

Archivex, a company that provides archive storage and delivery services from four warehouses in the Montreal area, is owned by Iron Mountain, a U.S.-based corporation that recorded $1.3 billion annual profits in 2002. It is the only unionized division of Iron Mountain in Quebec.

A thick layer of snow covered two company delivery vans parked outside one warehouse as Militant reporters spoke to union president Jean-Pierre Groulx, 38, who has worked as a truck driver for 15 years. He said that despite Quebec law, which bars employers from using replacement workers during a strike, “the company is using several couriers—FedEx, Purolator, UPS—to make deliveries.”

In the government’s eyes, Groulx said, the burden is on the union to furnish proof that Iron Mountain is violating the law. “We have had to constantly videotape these activities. But on February 6, we received the government inspector’s report that cited 143 company violations of the law,” he said.

The union has received support from many CSN unions. For their part, strikers have joined labor demonstrations against Quebec government changes to the Quebec Labor Code. Last year the Liberal Party government of Quebec premier Jean Charest rammed through a bill to make it easier for companies and government services to contract out work, lower wages, worsen working conditions, and get rid of unions—part of a flurry of anti-union legislation.

For Dave Poirier, who worked at Archivex for only five months before the strike, “The union’s weekly meetings keep us motivated. We say what we think and decide what to do next.”

At the January 22 meeting, union members also voted to ask the CSN to appeal to the Teamsters Union to have their members honor their picket lines.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home