Outside workers employed in City of Laval arenas will be staging a three day strike from December 15-17.
According to their union, the action “is a direct consequence of the unsettling work atmosphere in several sectors of the City.” They claim the issue of labour relations is pivotal in the negotiations.
A 24-hour general strike took place last Nov. 7 in response to what Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 4545 referred to as “the contempt and lack of transparency” by representatives of the city’s labour relations department at the bargaining table.
“Even though the Mayor of Laval, Stéphane Boyer. is young, some people in his administration are still mired in management practices that harken back to another century,” said CUPE 4545 president Louis-Pierre Plourde.
“Coercive personnel management focusses on penalties rather than discussions,” he said. “This has resulted in a considerable number of grievances being sent to arbitration, and some of the costs of going this route is paid by Laval taxpayers.
“I’d like to remind Mayor Boyer that we’re in the 21st century and are grappling with labour shortages at this time,” said Martin Boyer, vice-president of CUPE 4545. “Senior managers in other cities are striving to come up with increasingly more employee-sensitive approaches to personnel management. The time has come in Laval to modernize our labour relations practices.”
The strike is expected to affect all City of Laval Laval arenas. A strike notice was sent to the Tribunal administrative du travail on Monday, December 4. 850 blue collar workers with the City of Laval have been without a contract since December 31, 2021. Last April 26, members voted 96 per cent in favour of a mandate involving pressure tactics up to and including strike action.
