CUPE members gathered outside the gates of Bordeaux Prison on April 20 to welcome jailed leaders of CUPE 301 upon their release. Imprisoned on March 23, Jean Lapierre and Denis Maynard had served four weeks of a six-month sentence for charges arising from a demonstration at Montreal City Hall in 1993.
The sentence had been condemned by labour activists throughout Quebec and across Canada as a flagrant example of the double standard that exists in our legal system, a system that allows corporate criminals to go unpunished yet jails leaders working to protect workers’ rights.
Local 301 represents 4,700 blue collar workers with the City of Montreal.