The union representing Videotron employees in Gatineau (CUPE 2815) has decided to block off a thoroughfare to voice their desperation over Videotron and its CEO, Pierre-Karl Péladeau. Since the lockout last October 30, eight bargaining sessions have been held during which time the union has made several concessions and displayed openness. To date, although all of the employer’s demands have been met, the union’s demands are still being ignored.
“Members in Gatineau have been locked out for more than 10 months, which means they’re not receiving a pay cheque. Péladeau is clearly not seeking a win-win agreement. Instead, he’s attacking the dignity and the vulnerability of his own employees,” said Nick Ningione, president of CUPE 2815.
“Today, we’re expressing our fundamental right to demonstrate. Due to Péladeau’s involvement and his control over numerous media outlets, news coverage of this 10-month lockout has pretty much been confined to Gatineau’s boundaries. At a time when the cows in Saint-Sévère, the wild turkeys in Louisville and labour conflicts at WestJet, the Granby zoo, CN, CPKC, FIQ, the SQ and Air Canada pilots have been making headlines, the 214 employees not being paid by Péladeau have not even had a chance to explain their situation to all Quebecers,” pointed out CUPE union representative Richard Quesnel.
“Though we’ve disrupted the schedules of some citizens with our demonstration this afternoon, we sympathize with them, but at the same time, we would ask them to think of how they’d respond if they were mired in a really tough predicament in these very difficult economic times,” he added.
Videotron, which comes under federal jurisdiction, is using replacement workers to keep its operations going. This causes an obvious imbalance in bargaining power at the negotiating table.
The union reiterates that the company is profitable in large part due to the contributions of its employees, and this has enabled Péladeau millions of dollars in profit.
“Péladeau would like to shift our jobs to developing countries, claiming that it’s hard to fill positions. But how can he hope to fill these positions if he continues his attacks on working conditions?” said Quesnel. “In the past 25 years, he’s received many subsidies from the public sector, which had not stopped the company from locking out employees four times in 20 years. I think our government should take into consideration the behaviour of some employers before writing them blank cheques,” said Quesnel.