Around twenty employees of the Olympic Stadium sports center were laid off without pay following the fire that forced the closure of part of the building at the end of March, even though their contracts ran until the end of March. late spring.
“We know that it is a case of force majeure, but it is abused,” laments the vice-president of their union, Émile Dorego.
These employees – swimming pool, spinning, rehabilitation, boxing or yoga class instructors – had signed contracts last January for a period of several months, he explains.
For around fifteen of them, these contracts expired on May 5, while for the remaining five, they were to continue until June 23.
However, on the night of March 20 to 21, a fire broke out outside the southeast side of the Stadium tower.
The damage, caused by soot that infiltrated the ventilation system, led to the closure of the National Sports Institute (INS) of Quebec, the rental floors of the Montreal Tower and the sports center of the Olympic Stadium , for a period of four to six months.
Frustrating situation
All the employees of the sports center were therefore dismissed and were invited to turn to unemployment, even if the contracts were still in progress, affirms Émile Dorego.
For its part, the Olympic Park indicates that despite the closure of its facilities on March 21, it continued to pay its employees until April 6 inclusive.
“Unfortunately, the sports center must cease all its operations, reimburse its members, and therefore is no longer able to offer working hours,” indicates the Olympic Park’s public relations advisor, Cédric Essiminy.
Mr. Essiminy adds that the Olympic Park nevertheless wishes to “maintain its employment relationship with the employees affected by the closure and undertakes to recall them as a priority when the facilities are operational again”.
The situation is all the more frustrating since the Olympic Park has already received the necessary amounts from Quebec to pay these employees, affirms Émile Dorego.
“It’s not like it’s a private company that doesn’t have enough funds to pay them. There, the money is already there, it is already planned,” he laments. “What we are asking is to respect the contracts which are coming to an end. »
A previous
The Olympic Park employees’ union recognizes that their collective agreement leaves discretionary power to the employer in cases of force majeure, but there is a precedent where they were paid despite the closure of the facilities, indicates Émile Dorego.
“We experienced the same situation during the COVID period where they tried not to pay their employees and it took pressure for them to decide to finally pay them,” he said.
For its part, the Olympic Park claims to pay its employees “from its operating and operating income, coming in particular from subscriptions, registrations, rentals as well as the events it hosts”.
“With the drastic loss of our traffic and the cancellation of the various events that were planned on the calendar, we are no longer able to maintain schedules linked to regular and event programming at the sports center,” continues the public relations advisor of the Olympic Park, Cédric Essiminy.