(Montreal) Unionized employees of the Dare Foods plant in Sainte-Martine, Montérégie, launched an indefinite general strike on Sunday morning as part of their wage demands.
The 100 or so members of the Union of Professional and Clerical Employees, Local 574 (SEPB-574), voted 85% in favor of a strike mandate on November 13.
Union president Mario Longtin said the pressure on management was “necessary” after more than 18 months of negotiations.
“We were there. We have been in intense negotiations since December 2021, and therefore we no longer had a choice, ”he explained in an interview.
According to a statement issued on Sunday, the union had demanded an 18% increase over a three-year period, while the employer was offering 13.25% over four years.
According to Mr. Longtin, this increase is insufficient to ensure the retention of personnel within the plant, especially in the context of a labor shortage.
“We’ve had a lot of turnover for a few years. Things have been moving a lot for two or three years, because the salaries are not high enough, ”he said.
He claimed that the union had made several proposals to the employer, but that they had all been refused.
“We want recognition for the last years we spent, added Mr. Longtin. We worked very hard during the confinement, and we got nothing in return”, adding that the patience of the union members was “at the end of it”.
For its part, the management party of Dare Foods declined the interview request from The Canadian Press.
Reached by email, Mylène Forget, public relations officer for the company, declared that the management did not grant any interviews in order to “maintain a climate of respectful negotiations”.
“Negotiations with the union representing the employees of the Ste-Martine plant are still continuing today with the aim of reaching an agreement satisfactory to both the employees and the company”, could we read in an email sent on Saturday.
As the union’s collective agreement expired in April 2021, negotiations between the two parties began shortly thereafter.
Dare Foods is due to inaugurate a new production line at the Sainte-Martine plant in December, a project that could be disrupted due to the indefinite general strike.
This article was produced with the financial support of the Meta Fellowships and The Canadian Press for News.