CONTRECOEUR, LONGUEUIL and MONTREAL – ArcelorMittal workers in “the South” – from the Montreal and Montérégie regions – have pledged recurring support to their brothers and sisters who are on strike at ArcelorMittal’s operations in Quebec’s North Shore region.
Members of the United Steelworkers/Syndicat des Métallos from five ArcelorMittal facilities in the Montreal and Montérégie regions sent $14,000 this week as a first instalment of recurring support to their 2,500 fellow Steelworkers who have been on strike at ArcelorMittal’s North Shore operations since May 10.
“The strike by our brothers and sisters is a courageous struggle to ensure that a fair portion of ArcelorMittal’s astronomical profits is returned to the Quebec economy,” said Yves Rolland, President of Steelworkers Local 6951 and spokesperson for the Comité de solidarité de l’acier (Steel Solidarity Committee).
“We stand in solidarity with the people of the North and will support them financially throughout this dispute. We will also be there to support them in the streets,” Rolland said.
“We have the same employer as our brothers and sisters in the North. They extract our natural resources in the North and we provide the value-added processing and manufacturing in our plants in the South. Their battle for respect and for economic benefits for Quebec also is our battle,” he added.
The Steelworkers locals supporting the ArcelorMittal strikers on the North Shore are Locals 6586 and 8060 from the Contrecœur East steel plant, Local 6586-2 from the Contrecoeur-Feruni recycling and processing facility, Local 6951 from the Contrecœur West steel plant, Local 8897 from the Longueuil steel plant, and Local 9399 at the Saint-Patrick facility.
In addition to the contribution of $14,000 this week, members of the Steelworkers locals in the Montreal and Montérégie areas will meet in coming days to determine the amounts of recurring donations to be made to the strikers for the duration of the labour dispute.
The 2,500 strikers at ArcelorMittal’s North Shore operations are members of Steelworkers Locals 5778, 6869, 8664, 7401 and 7401-FP.
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