The union of striking employees of the SAQ announces a truce and suspends the strike until Monday, November 29 at 5 a.m.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) made the announcement Tuesday night in a press release.
The union and management of the Société des alcools were negotiating Tuesday as the walkout of 800 warehouse workers was on its second day in a row.
“We do not want to take SAQ customers hostage and since we are finally seeing progress at the negotiating table, we agree to suspend the strike for a few days in order to give the talks one last chance. The employee (s) will therefore be back to work tomorrow, Wednesday morning. The union bargaining committee will put all its energy at the bargaining table to reach an agreement before Monday, ”said Michel Gratton, CUPE union adviser, in a press release.
The management of the SAQ also undertook to provide all the addresses where the SAQ stores its bottles in order to reassure the union party regarding the threat of using replacement workers or “scabs”.
Nothing leaked from the negotiation meeting on Tuesday. Neither the management of the SAQ nor the local section of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, affiliated with the FTQ, wanted to reveal the content of the talks.
Some 800 workers have been on strike since Monday morning at 5 a.m. They are assigned to the SAQ warehouses, as well as to the supply of the SAQ branches, in particular.
In addition to these two days of walkout, the union held an isolated strike day on November 16.
CUPE expected to receive a “substantial” offer from SAQ management on Tuesday. He said on Sunday that he would then see if it was appropriate to interrupt his walkout.
As for the Société des alcools, it reported that the strike was already having a significant impact on supplies and deliveries.
Among the issues in dispute are wages, overtime, and occupational health and safety issues.