Quebec Steelworkers on strike at Termaco for cost-of-living protections
June 19 2024 - 5:06PM
Workers at the Termaco sheet metal fabrication plant in
Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu are on strike as the company refuses to
offer cost-of-living wage adjustments to address years of rampant
inflation.
The 90 workers, members of the Syndicat des Métallos/United
Steelworkers union (USW) began their strike Monday.
The workers have suffered significant losses in purchasing power
in recent years, as they have not received any wage adjustments
since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even now, as the workers
attempt to negotiate a new collective agreement, Termaco is
refusing to provide cost-of-living adjustments, provoking the
strike that began Monday.
“We feel a real sense of obstinance at the bargaining table,
nothing’s happening,” said Guillaume Saint-André, President of USW
Local 8896.
“We need to make up for lost ground from the high inflation
we’ve seen in recent years. The company raised its prices, and it
has made its money, but we got nothing in return,” Saint-André
said.
“We’re being realistic, and we’ve even compromised on our
demands, but we feel the employer is mocking us. We know things are
going well for them, that the orders are there, so we believe we
should get our fair share. Above all, we certainly don’t want to
become poorer,” he added.
The workers began their strike after the employer rejected
out-of-hand a union counter-proposal that included a number of
compromises from its previous proposals.
“We tried, right up to the very end, to avoid a dispute, by
presenting a counter-proposal with several compromises. The
employer ignored our proposal and even threatened a lockout.
Company foremen even interfered in the bargaining process by openly
commenting on the negotiations in the plant, which is
unacceptable,” said USW representative Martin Courville.
“While many other employers adjusted their workers’ wages during
the pandemic, our members at Termaco got nothing. They are simply
asking for a catch-up so that they don’t become poorer,” Courville
said.
The parties also were at odds on the duration of a new
collective agreement, with the employer demanding a five-year
contract while the union proposed three years.
“Even on that issue, we were prepared to compromise, with a
four-year agreement," Courville noted.
The Syndicat des Métallos/United Steelworkers, affiliated with
the Quebec Federation of Labour, is the largest private-sector
union in Quebec, representing more than 60,000 workers in all
sectors of the economy.
Contact: Clairandrée Cauchy, USW Communications, 514-774-4001,
ccauchy@metallos.ca