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Vol. 77/No. 26      July 8, 2013

 
175,000 construction workers
strike for contract in Quebec

BY KATY LEROUGETEL
AND FÉLIX VINCENT ARDEA
 
MONTREAL — At midnight June 17, all unionized Quebec construction workers walked off the job, the first such province-wide strike since 1986. They are confronting the Quebec Construction Association, which speaks for thousands of bosses. The workers’ contracts ended April 30.

Belonging to five different union federations and dozens of trades, the 175,000 workers are fighting under the banner of the Union Alliance. They demand wage increases that protect against inflation and oppose extension of the working day and regular pay for working Saturdays in lieu of weekdays lost to rain. Unions are also demanding rules be maintained that favor hiring workers from local areas where construction projects are taking place, instead of Montreal-based companies bringing all workers in from the city.

All commercial, residential and institutional construction projects have been idled. Construction of bridges, roads, housing complexes and an amphitheater in Quebec City have all halted. The many megaprojects shut down include the $8.5 billion La Romaine hydro-electric project on Quebec’s North Shore and the $2.1 billion University of Montreal Hospital Center and McGill University Health Center, among the biggest construction projects in Canada. Construction generates 15 percent of the province’s gross domestic product.

“They’re making us choose between work and family,” Emmanuel Lacoste, a carpenter joiner, told the Militant as he picketed outside the University of Montreal Hospital Center site downtown on the first morning of the strike.

Employers want to install flexible work times for an eight-hour day, beginning as early as 5:30 a.m., and ending as late as 7:00 p.m., strikers explained.

Workers on the line explained that Saturday pay at double time rates was won in past struggles.

On the picket lines strikers receive many supportive honks from drivers passing by.

Yves Ouellet, spokesperson for the Union Alliance, told the media that the 1 percent wage increase proposed by the construction bosses is under the rate of inflation. Workers are demanding a 3 percent increase in the first year of the new contract.

Quebec City Mayor Régis Labeaume as well as the Liberal Party and the Quebec Action Coalition, the main opposition parties in the Quebec National Assembly, have called on the Parti Quebecois provincial government to pass back-to-work legislation. Quebec Premier Pauline Marois initially ruled out such legislation but said June 19 she will consider it if the strike lasts more than two weeks.

As other strikers were getting into cars to go shut down a site still working, Jonny, a signaler who did not want to give his last name, said, “We have to respect those who fought before us.”

Thousands of construction workers took to the streets in Montreal June 20 to press their demands, taking over a main highway. Hundreds also demonstrated in other regions of the province.

John Steele contributed to this article.

 
 
 
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