Quebec Steelworkers on strike at Termaco for cost-of-living protections

SAINT-JEAN-SUR-RICHELIEU, Quebec – Workers at the Termaco sheet metal fabrication plant in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu are on strike as the company refuses to offer cost-of-living wage adjustments to address years of rampant inflation.

The 90 workers, members of the Syndicat des Métallos/United Steelworkers union (USW) began their strike Monday.

The workers have suffered significant losses in purchasing power in recent years, as they have not received any wage adjustments since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even now, as the workers attempt to negotiate a new collective agreement, Termaco is refusing to provide cost-of-living adjustments, provoking the strike that began Monday.

“We feel a real sense of obstinance at the bargaining table, nothing’s happening,” said Guillaume Saint-André, President of USW Local 8896.

“We need to make up for lost ground from the high inflation we’ve seen in recent years. The company raised its prices, and it has made its money, but we got nothing in return,” Saint-André said.

“We’re being realistic, and we’ve even compromised on our demands, but we feel the employer is mocking us. We know things are going well for them, that the orders are there, so we believe we should get our fair share. Above all, we certainly don’t want to become poorer,” he added.

The workers began their strike after the employer rejected out-of-hand a union counter-proposal that included a number of compromises from its previous proposals.

“We tried, right up to the very end, to avoid a dispute, by presenting a counter-proposal with several compromises. The employer ignored our proposal and even threatened a lockout. Company foremen even interfered in the bargaining process by openly commenting on the negotiations in the plant, which is unacceptable,” said USW representative Martin Courville.

“While many other employers adjusted their workers’ wages during the pandemic, our members at Termaco got nothing. They are simply asking for a catch-up so that they don’t become poorer,” Courville said.

The parties also were at odds on the duration of a new collective agreement, with the employer demanding a five-year contract while the union proposed three years.

“Even on that issue, we were prepared to compromise, with a four-year agreement,” Courville noted.

The Syndicat des Métallos/United Steelworkers, affiliated with the Quebec Federation of Labour, is the largest private-sector union in Quebec, representing more than 60,000 workers in all sectors of the economy.

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