Vol. 76/No. 46      December 17, 2012

“It’s subcontracting that’s the issue. It’s not monetary,” local union President Lucien Dallaire told the Militant. Workers are trying to stop Acier Leroux’s effort to increasingly hire outside the union.

Company officials consider the union’s demands as encroaching on management rights. “At some point, we have to run the company,” Marion Britton, vice president and chief financial officer, said Nov. 2 in a phone interview.

The 94 members of the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN) picket around the clock here outside Acier Leroux’s largest plant.

“This is for everybody. I’m picketing because they fought for the past 25 years, and I’m not going to be the one to throw it all away,” Francis Lefort said at the picket line Oct. 26.

“Solidarity among the guys is still excellent,” said Martin Saulnier on the picket line Nov. 19. He was among those who went to Quebec City Nov. 15 to “show our employer we’re still alive and that we’re not alone,” he said.

In Quebec City unionists demonstrated in front of an Acier Leroux plant and attended the union federation’s federal council meeting, where they received financial support.

Jacques Tricot, CSN business agent, told the Militant the company has plants in other Quebec locations and “is managing to get by.”

Pickets describe trucks entering and leaving the plant with work destined for other locations. They said some truckers turn around in solidarity when confronted with the picket line. xc
 
 
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