MONTREAL – Dominic Lemieux, Quebec Director of the Syndicat des Métallos/United Steelworkers union (USW), today announced he will leave the position on May 15, with Nicolas Lapierre, currently Assistant to the USW Quebec Director, to become interim director.
Lemieux has served as USW District 5 Director since April 2020, leading Quebec’s largest private-sector union, with more than 60,000 workers across the province. Previously, Lemieux worked for four years as Assistant to the USW District 5 Director.
“It’s been an honour to be a leader of this great union,” Lemieux said in his announcement today. He pointed to the Quebec Steelworkers’ leading role within the labour movement in achieving significant, at times historic, victories.
“Together with Steelworkers activists and other unions, we have fought some great battles, which notably led to a ban on discriminatory treatment in Quebec (such as two-tier provisions in collective agreements regarding wages, pensions and benefits), to federal anti-scab legislation, and to better pension protections in the event of corporate bankruptcies,” he said.
“We came through the pandemic and fought soaring inflation by ensuring that our members got their fair share, and we’re continuing to lead the fight to protect health and safety in the workplace,” he added.
Lemieux said his future plans include completing a master’s degree in industrial relations at l’Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières and eventually pursuing new career challenges. He said he wanted to step down as USW District 5 Director prior to regional meetings this spring of the union’s Quebec members and before nominations are opened for the Steelworkers’ International Executive Board elections to be held this fall.
“The Steelworkers union has shaped me and I owe a lot to this organization. I want to act responsibly by not putting my name in the hat for the next election when I know I won’t complete another term. Whoever takes over, initially on an interim basis, will have the opportunity to meet members this spring, before the fall elections. I have every confidence in Nicolas Lapierre to take over and pursue our union agenda with the same vigour,” he said.
Lemieux began his career as a miner in Quebec’s Abitibi region and later worked in the steel industry in the Montérégie region, where he was a member and activist of USW Local 6951.
Nicolas Lapierre has been appointed as interim USW District 5 Director until the union’s International Executive Board elections are held this November. Originally from Quebec’s Côte-Nord region, Lapierre was appointed Assistant to the District 5 Director in May 2023, after serving seven years as USW Regional Co-ordinator in Sept-Îles, Que. He previously worked in the laboratory at the former Pointe-Noire pellet plant in Sept-Îles.
View Nicolas Lapierre’s bio.
The United Steelworkers, affiliated with the FTQ, is the largest private-sector union in Quebec. It represents more than 60,000 workers in all sectors of the economy.
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