The 70 workers of the Sorel-Tracy–Saint-Ignace-de-Loyola ferry, members of local section 9599 of the Syndicat des Métallos, have given themselves an expanded mandate to intensify their pressure tactics.
They voted unanimously in favour of an indefinite strike.
The negotiating committee and the Société des traversiers du Québec (STQ) are in conciliation on Monday.
The union hopes to “see a real willingness to negotiate on the part of the employer,” it said in a press release Monday. The negotiating committee emphasized that frustration is palpable among ferry workers.
“The slow pace of negotiations has deprived workers of thousands of dollars over the past 16 months, during which time they have been without a collective agreement,” said Alain Gendron, a member of the ferry’s steelworkers’ negotiating committee, adding that “the costs of gasoline, food and other necessities are also increasing for these workers.”
According to Ève-Lyne Renaud, also a member of the negotiating committee, “a salary catch-up is quickly necessary, especially since the clientele has doubled in recent years, which represents double the work for employees and double the income for the STQ, but nothing for employees.”
The union stresses that an unlimited strike “would affect not only the workers, but also the community and the users of this ferry.”
The employees went on strike last Friday at 7 a.m. and returned to work at 6:59 a.m. Monday.