The Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Claude Généreux, joined sixty union activists this morning at a demonstration in support of two Ste-Anne-de-Madawaska municipal employees who have been locked out since June 16, 2010.
Généreux went to tell the locked-out employees that the labour dispute has gone on long enough. “The municipal employees have negotiated in good faith. They’ve done their part and have accepted the demands of the municipality.”
“The mayor has prolonged the conflict unnecessarily by refusing to negotiate with his two employees. From the start, the list of demands has kept on growing.”
“We’ve done our part; the time has come to end this lockout. If necessary, we will take legal action to do so. Do not forget that it’s the citizens of Sainte-Anne-de-Madawaska who bear the brunt of this dispute.”
Généreux noted that CUPE negotiates collective agreements for more than 200,000 municipal workers in numerous cities, villages and parishes across the country.