Locked-out workers protest in Cornwall
Locked-out warehouse workers from Laval created a cacophony of horns and music in front of a building in a Cornwall industrial park on Tuesday.
The building houses a temporary warehousing operation set up by their employer, Canada Bread Company, shortly after it locked them out this month.
Their union, the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), organized the demonstration to protest what it sees as a massive scab operation to allow the bread company to continue doing business during the lockout.
Workers arrived in Cornwall on Tuesday by the busload and made their displeasure known by making as much noise as possible. More than 100 protesters blew shrill plastic horns while four massive speakers blasted lively music.
The combined noises would have been impossible to ignore even inside the building — which was precisely the point, CSN vice-president David Bergeron-Cyr said.
“It’s the kind of passive protest that will get their attention,” he said. “They have scabs in there doing the work of people who are locked out in Laval.”
For its part, Canada Bread confirms it set up the facility in Cornwall as a temporary measure so it could continue to sell bread during the duration of the lockout. Once the labour conflict comes to an end, the facility will be closed and the temporary workers laid off.
In response to the claims it is an unfair operation, company spokesperson Sylvia Sicuso said: “We are entitled to under the labour laws.”
Staff members inside the building watched the pickets from behind the glass doors, with security escorting people to and from their cars in the parking lot.
Members of the Cornwall Community Police Service were on hand to make sure the protest stayed on the road and that no one set foot on the private property surrounding the building.
Even though they took precautions, police spokesperson Const. Dan Cloutier said they did not expect anything more than a peaceful protest.
“We’re just here to make sure everyone is safe,” he said.
The workers who came to Cornwall are all employed at a distribution centre for POM brand bread products in Laval that Canada Bread closed on April 1, locking out 120 warehouse workers.
The cause of the labour conflict according to CSN is unpaid pension benefits for retired employees. The lockout also came on the heels of an announcement the company will be closing its bakery in St-Côme—Linière next month.
Bergeron-Cyr said that CSN and the company are in the final stages of a reconciliation process mediated by the Quebec Ministry of Labour. He expects a new collective agreement will be ready for approval as soon as protocols governing how employees will return to work are agreed upon.
“We hope the final day of negotiations will be tomorrow so that we can present a contract to our membership next Thursday.”
Sicuso could not comment on the state of negotiations other than to say they were ongoing and that Canada Bread is negotiating in good faith.