Unifor union members on strike at Nova Bus

(Montreal) Some 300 workers, members of the Unifor union, affiliated with the FTQ, went on strike Friday at Nova Bus in Saint-François-du-Lac.

Union members voted 98% in favor of a strike mandate on May 26.

They had already exercised three days of strike before triggering this indefinite strike. And they were even on their second strike vote, the first having been passed in January.

The Saint-François-du-Lac plant manufactures bus structures.

Jean-Rod Morin, Unifor’s national representative on the case, explains that the plant employs between 150 and 200 welders, while the other workers hold related jobs, related to welding inspection, for example.

As has often been the case over the past year, the wage issue is in dispute, with union members insisting that the increases offered take inflation into account.

Mr. Morin reports that the employer is offering a 4.5% increase the first year, 2% the second and 2.5% the third year of the employment contract.

“It’s below the cost of living. People rather expect a salary catch-up, even. Or let alone catch up, people expect a pay rise. Jobs in their field, in the sector, have increased. Then people think they deserve it. So expectations are high. But the employer is not there,” said Mr. Morin.

He explains that many employees come from Trois-Rivières, Drummondville, Sorel and therefore have to travel to Saint-François-du-Lac, in the RCM of Nicolet-Yamaska. The rise in gas prices is therefore an important variable for them, hence their salary expectations.

As for the other clauses of the collective agreement, he argues that “the normative has been settled; only monetary demands remain”. He still reports “difficult” labor relations, disciplinary measures and several grievances.

The employer requested conciliation from the Ministry of Labour. There has not yet been a meeting with the conciliator.

Reached by email and telephone, the employer had not yet commented at the time of writing these lines.

Nova Bus is part of the Volvo Group.

The collective agreement expired on February 16.