Users of the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery are getting impatient: without assistance, some are not even able to bury the ashes of their deceased loved ones. The union attributes the situation to the glaring lack of staff, well known in the neighborhood.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
“My mother passed away on June 15, and I’ve been trying to contact the cemetery since June 20. I never had any news. Either they tell me that the manager is on vacation, or they take my information, either this or that. But there is never anything that happens, ” castigates Lilianne Geerts with emotion.
She has therefore been trying to bury her mother for two months, whose parents already have a lot in the cemetery.
It should be so simple. But no, I never have clear answers. I tell you: I’m about to go there with my shovel to do it myself.
Lilianne Geerts, on the phone
On social networks, several other people agree on the words of M.me Geerts. “It’s a pitiful cemetery. I went to see my mother and was unable to find the headstone it is so poorly maintained. The grass is so long. […] I called the cemetery to report the situation and the agent on the phone totally dismissed me. What a shame. No respect for the deceased, ”writes Stéphanie Payton in particular.
“Nobody answers the phone, we have to leave a message on the voicemail, except that it is regularly full and the line cuts,” adds Jacques Legault. So many comments that do not surprise Mme Geerts. “They don’t return anyone’s calls. In my efforts, I even heard that at the end of the day, they delete voicemail without taking messages. There is really something wrong,” she insists.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
The Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery, Wednesday
“Really small” staff
The president of the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery Office Employees Union, Éric Dufault, does not say he is surprised by this situation. “Since they started cutting staff, we tell management: you’re going to run out of soldiers to process the volume of services you need,” he says.
“We have families who want to plan a burial, but it’s all part of a service that we are not always able to deliver with the limited number of staff. Some colleagues tell me they have 50 messages in one morning, so they block their line. They can’t take any more,” admits Mr. Dufault.
From the employer, he asks only one thing: transparency.
Do not pretend to provide a service to families when this is not the case. Let’s not pretend that we are still the jewel of Montreal. Let it be said clearly that we are short-staffed. In short, let’s be transparent with the families. We are constantly put in a situation where we have to apologize to the families, when it is not our fault.
Éric Dufault, president of the union of office workers at the cemetery
On the side of the Union of Workers of the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery, President Patrick Chartrand is also sorry for the situation. “We have never had such a low number of employees, and it shows. There’s a lot of seasonal work, turf and landscaping, done with minimal staff. And at the office, the people who stay are overwhelmed, they have trouble returning calls, ”he admits on the phone.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
The Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery, Wednesday
At the end of May, The Press reported, with supporting photos, that weeds are invading the cemetery. In places, the tombs disappear completely under the wild vegetation. “It’s awful,” then dropped Debra Czop, both knees in the ground. For half an hour, with her mother, Anne Czop, she had been cleaning the small quadrangle around the family tomb.
“I went to see management. I asked if they could make sure that at least the grass would be cut. I was told that I had to make a special request”, Anne Czop also protested, before taking the pruning shears back to the ground.
Last year, 26 employees – mostly in maintenance positions – were laid off. The employer justified its decision by “financial problems”, at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic had just shaken up the budget of many companies, says Patrick Chartrand. The unions have been negotiating with the employer for four years. Cemetery employees have therefore been without an employment contract since December 2018.
Called to react, the management of the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery did not return the numerous calls and emails from The Press, tuesday. None of the representatives answered our questions by email.