The management of the Delpharm pharmaceutical products plant in Boucherville and its 227 union members signed an agreement in principle on Friday afternoon that would put an end to the strike started on May 25.
Posted at 6:30 p.m.
The terms of the six-year agreement will be put to the vote of a union assembly on Monday at 9 a.m., told The Press Jean-François Pelletier, union representative for Teamsters Local 1999.
The plant produces morphine, hydromorphone, solutions administered to premature newborns and many other injectable products used in operating theaters across Canada, explained Mr. Pelletier at the end of negotiations with Delpharm held on Friday. afternoon at the Ministry of Labour.
According to an industry source, the labor dispute had come to the attention of Quebec’s health ministry. Production problems at the Boucherville plant — it then belonged to Sandoz Canada — had caused a shortage ten years ago.
Without giving details, Mr. Pelletier indicated that the agreement allows “good progress” on the three issues of the negotiations, namely wages, pension plans and group insurance.
The average salary at the plant is currently around $30/h “before the bonus that will be offered to members on Monday,” said Mr. Pelletier.
Delpharm is a French subcontractor that manufactures various drugs for other companies. The Boucherville plant’s only customer is the Canadian subsidiary of the French multinational Sandoz, which itself operated the Boucherville facilities before selling them to Delpharm.
Delpharm operates 17 plants in Europe and two in Quebec, in Boucherville and Pointe-Claire.