Agreement in principle rejected | The strike continues at the Delpharm pharmaceutical plant in Boucherville

Employees of the Delpharm pharmaceutical plant in Boucherville rejected by 66%, on Monday, the agreement in principle concluded Friday between the management of the company and the Teamsters union.

Posted at 8:54 p.m.

The strike started on May 25 is continuing, told The Press Jean-François Pelletier, union representative for Teamsters Local 1999. About 200 of the 227 union members took part in the ballot.

“The main issue remains wages: our members argued that they were declared essential service workers during the pandemic and they supported the hospital component throughout this period,” said Mr. Pelletier. The pension fund and group insurance also remain an issue, he added.

The average salary for operators is around $30/hr, Pelletier said.

major supplier

The Boucherville plant is an important cog in the pan-Canadian supply of injectable drugs supplied to hospitals and used during surgery and intensive care. It produces morphine, hydromorphone, solutions for premature infants and many other injectable products used in operating theaters across Canada.

The shutdown of the plant in 2012, following production problems, had caused enormous planning problems in the hospital network.

The plant, then owned by Sandoz Canada, had to cease production after compliance and certification issues with the Food & Drug Administration. It had to review its manufacturing and asepsis/sterilization processes. A fire had also caused problems.

The plant was recently sold to French subcontractor Delpharm, which continues to produce the product line of Sandoz Canada, its sole customer.

Mr. Pelletier said he was unable to say which products might be missing, or when. “From memory, batches of hydromophone, treprostinil and rocunorium were produced shortly before the start of the strike [le 25 mai]. You never know long in advance which drugs will be produced from week to week. »

No date has yet been put on the calendar for a resumption of negotiations, said Mr. Pelletier.

Neither Sandoz nor Delpharm could be reached on Monday evening.

Delpharm manufactures various drugs for other companies. It operates 17 plants in Europe and two in Quebec, in Boucherville and Pointe-Claire.


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