July 11, 2012 - No. 100

Alma Workers Ratify Tentative Agreement

Workers' Resistance Ends Rio Tinto Alcan's
Phony Lockout

Alma workers applaud results of the ratification vote, July 5, 2012.

Alma Workers Ratify Tentative Agreement
• Workers' Resistance Ends Rio Tinto Alcan's Phony Lockout - Pierre Chénier

Support the Struggle of the Quebec Students!
• Students Prepare for July 22 Monthly Demonstration
• Demonstrations and Mobilizations Continue in Support of the Fight Against the Tuition Hike
• Ruling on Motion to Stay Special Law Takes Up Government Arguments

Coming Events
• Toronto: Conversation with Prominent Cuban Journalist Arleen Rodrígues Derivet
• July Tour of Ontario by CLASSE

Alma Workers Ratify Tentative Agreement

Workers' Resistance Ends Rio Tinto Alcan's
Phony Lockout

- Pierre Chénier -

Mark Maltais, President of the Syndicat des travailleurs de l'aluminium d'Alma publiclly announces the ratification of a new contract, to enthusiastic cheers from the people of Alma, July 5, 2012.

On July 5, the Alma Rio Tinto Alcan (RTA) workers, who were locked out by the company for more than six months, ratified the tentative agreement reached a few days earlier between the Syndicat des travailleurs de l'aluminium d'Alma and RTA. The tentative agreement was discussed and voted on by secret ballots at three general membership meetings of the bargaining units involved: the hourly workers (production), the workers at the Potlines Maintenance Centre and the office workers. The hourly workers (there are about 700 in the plant) voted 82.8 per cent in favour of the agreement; the workers at the Potlines Maintenance Centre (about 60 workers) voted 92.5 per cent in favour and the office workers (about 25), 83.3 per cent in favour.

Marc Maltais, the president of the union, announced the results of the votes at a press conference the evening of July 5. He said the agreement runs through to December 31, 2015 and that one of its main features is that there are not going to be layoffs of workers during the life of the contract.

"This contract is a victory. I will not say it is a spectacular victory or a crushing victory. We had to let some things go. We showed openness. We sustained some losses and made some concessions. But it is still a victory for the union in terms of the goals we set for ourselves to protect jobs and limit subcontracting," he said. He highlighted the importance of the union's fight: "The employer is not going to be able to look at us in the old way. They know we are able to fight them."

Maltais said that the union was able to get contract language that limits the ability of RTA to subcontract the jobs of the workers. Subcontracting is a mechanism that RTA is using to force two-tier wages and working conditions in the plant, with a section of workers working in conditions that are far inferior to the conditions of the other workers and to the conditions for which the workers have fought and won in struggles over many decades. Subcontracting is also being used to decrease the number of workers who belong to the union making it more difficult for the workers to wage an effective fight in defence of their rights and the interests of the people of the region.

Maltais referred to a provision in the contract that limits the number of hours of work that the company is allowed to subcontract to 10 per cent of the hours worked by the unionized workers. This means, for example, any reduction in the number of hours worked by the unionized workers would also see the hours for subcontractors proportionally reduced. Maltais said that this is a gain for the union in terms of its demand for a ceiling to subcontracting. For a long time, the union has demanded that jobs with decent conditions be protected through the establishment of such a ratio, whether by setting minimum levels of employment according to the number of tons of aluminum produced per year or through an arrangement on limits to subcontracting. Maltais said that the company refused to sign anything on minimum levels of employment but that workers were able to get it to move on subcontracting.

Dominic Lemieux, the regional representative of the Quebec Federation of Labour for Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, said this is the first time that workers in any Rio Tinto facility have been able to get an arrangement in writing that limits subcontracting. He said that this a major gain for the Alma workers and a contribution to the struggle of all the workers fighting companies that impose two-tier wages and working conditions.

The main concession in the new contract that Maltais referred to is that the Potlines Maintenance Centre, with roughly 60 workers at present, disappears as a bargaining unit. All the jobs at the centre from now on will be subcontracted. The new contract spells out that the workers currently at the maintenance centre will be moved elsewhere in the plant or to other RTA plants in the region. Maltais explained that the union fought that it be put in the contract that these workers cannot be let go and on that it won.

Maltais also informed that a back-to-work protocol with a calendar of 14 weeks was signed. The company has to reintegrate everybody at work within 90 days of the signing of the contract. There is a moratorium on labour mobility within the plant that can last for up to 150 days.

In his comments, Maltais expressed his appreciation that the struggle in Alma was achieved by mobilizing broad support from workers across Quebec, Canada and in many other countries.

"We have succeeded in uniting organizations across the globe around our cause, a first in Quebec. We wanted decent jobs for our community and for the future generations. We have done it. We can be proud of what we have done... Our fight is not over and tomorrow is another day."

Maltais made the point that even though the lockout has ended, the union is continuing its fight against the secret deal signed in 2007 between the Quebec government, Hydro-Quebec and Rio Tinto when RTA bought Alcan. This secret deal, among other things, says Hydro-Québec must buy all of RTA's unused hydro during a lockout or a strike. It is estimated that RTA made about $60 million during the lockout from the sale of electricity to Hydro-Quebec. The Alma union has been waging a campaign for many years now to demand arrangements that are beneficial to the region in return for RTA's hydro privileges in Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean. The theme of the campaign is "Their Need: Our Hydro-Electricity -- Our Priority: Our Resources, Our Jobs."

Support the Struggle of the Quebec Students!

Students Prepare for July 22 Monthly Demonstration

While continuing their nightly demonstrations, students are preparing for the next monthly mass demonstration to be held in Montreal on July 22. The Broad Coalition of Student Union Solidarity (CLASSE), which is organizing the event, says that first and foremost the action is to protest the neoliberal Jean Charest government, the tuition fee increase and the Special Law adopted in May, as well as the health tax and Northern Plan.

Click to enlarge.

CLASSE rejects the government and the monopoly media propaganda that keeps saying the movement is losing steam, said Camille Robert, a CLASSE co-spokesperson.

In terms of its work for the summer, at a press conference following last month's mass demonstration on June 22, CLASSE co-spokesperson Jeanne Reynolds stated, "We are going to carry on with the mobilization and maybe go back on strike in August. During the summer we are going to organize neighbourhood meetings across Quebec. We are going to explain our demands to the people and mobilize as much support as we can."

At the same June press conference, Camille Robert responded to a question of CLASSE's plans should an election be called. She replied:

"If the Charest government calls an election, we are going to go everywhere to explain that this government has persistently refused to take up its responsibility. People in Quebec are fed up with this government. We are going to organize the students to fully participate in the fight if an election is called. " She said that for weeks the Charest government has been trying to create a climate of fear in Quebec, using the same methods that the Harper Conservatives are using which she described as using of any means to silence the protests so that privatization can be imposed onto the people. She said that to this must now be added the issue of the government's financial corruption which keep reappearing. It is all this and more that CLASSE is going to raise if the Charest government calls an election.

The Quebec Federation of University Students (FEUQ) president, Martine Desjardins, for her part reiterated that the student protest movement's aim now is to defeat the Liberals in the next elections.

Following the June 22 monthly mass protest, she informed the media that, "FEUQ is very active at the moment including during festivals. We were very present at the FrancoFolies, distributing red squares, and we are happy to say that three out of four people took the red square and wore it. We are going to keep on mobilizing the people's support. We will do it during festivals and we are also going to talk to the people in their regions. We will talk to people in neighbourhood meetings and we will also go door-to-door especially in ridings where the Liberals were elected with a slim majority in the last election. We are going to present a true summation of what the liberals did."

She also said that there is a lot of work to be done in the regions to explain what is really going on in the education system and to oppose the Charest government's attempts to divide the people on the issue of the student struggle.

"This government takes great care in not telling the people that they too will have to pay more for the financing of the universities and it is trying to divide the people between students and taxpayers. Everybody has to understand that we are all in the same boat. In its plan for the financing of the universities, the Charest government is going to go deep into the pockets of the people to finance the universities. We are going to explain all this because the government is diverting the issue by trying to equate the student struggle and red square with violence. "

Regarding the possibility that Premier Charest may call an election for September, Desjardins stated:

"We must go and talk to the people where they live and tell them that we have to do more to get rid of the liberals. We must put pressure on all the parties so that once the election is over, the party that gets elected respects the concerns of the students and makes sensible proposals. Our message today is that once again the youth are going to change Quebec in the coming future. On June 22, 1960, the Jean Lesage government was elected and the youth vote was critical in electing this government and ushering into the Quiet Revolution. The youth vote can change things. We will fully mobilize ourselves in the next election."

(Translated from original French by TML)

Demonstrations and Mobilizations Continue in
Support of the Fight Against the Tuition Hike

Students are continuing their actions, including the tradition of nightly demonstrations in Montreal. In various neighbourhoods, residents are meeting amongst themselves to discuss how to get the Liberals out in the next election.

78th Consecutive Nocturnal Demonstration in Montreal

Day of Mourning for Democracy

On June 30, in response to a call by Mères en colère et solidaires, Parents contre la hausse, Parents d'enfant blessé dans une manif, Profs contre la hausse, Profs féministes solidaires et en colère et Têtes blanches carré rouge, some 200 people took part in a Day of Mourning in downtown Montreal at 1:30 pm on a Saturday afternoon. The sombre procession, with participants dressed in black, was a powerful expression of the people's rejection of the Charest government's neoliberal dictate, especially its anti-democratic Special Law and violent suppression of the students and people.

Quebec's National Day Inspired by Students' Courage and Determination

The pressure from the Liberal government and monopoly media to make June 24, St. Jean Baptiste Day, Quebec's National Holiday, an apolitical event was soundly rejected by the people. In Quebec City, Premier Jean Charest declared that, "After all we have been through in the past months, I think we should put politics aside and concentrate on those things which unite us." To which the artists and participants in the festivities responded by reaffirming their opposition to the government!

In Montreal, some 150,000 people gathered in Maisonneuve Park for the day's celebrations, with many performers and those in the crowd wearing the red square.

Montreal



Quebec City

Support from Mexican Student Movement

Hundreds of activists from the "Yo Soy 132" youth and student movement demonstrated demonstrated in front of the Canadian Embassy in Mexico City on June 15 in solidarity with the students in Quebec. The youth denounced the Quebec government`s attempts to increase university tuition fees as well as the imposition of the Special law by the Charest government. The members of "Yo Soy 132" also took the occasion to add to their manifesto their opposition to Canadian mining companies operating in Wirikuta, a sacred site for the Wixarikas indigenous people. During the demonstration the "Yo Soy 132" movement read the following declaration:

"Just as the Quebec students have supported our own fight, we want to salute the more than 175,000 Quebec students on strike for more than 100 days against the Jean Charest government's plans to increase university tuition fees by 75 percent in Quebec. Your 'maple spring,' a good example for us all."

Like the Quebec Students, the students of "Yo soy 132" have organized dozens of actions in very creative ways to make their demands known as part of the Mexican people's fight for control over their own affairs.

Ruling on Motion to Stay Special Law Takes Up Government Arguments

On June 28, François Rolland, Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Quebec dismissed the application for a stay of Articles 16-21 of Law 12 (i.e., Bill 78, the Special Law). This application was one of two filed on May 25 by the Quebec Federation of College Students (FECQ), the Quebec Federation of University Students (FEUQ), the Broad Coalition for Student Union Solidarity (CLASSE), the Quebec Students Roundtable (TaCEQ), as well as the Quebec Federation of Labour (FTQ), the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN), Quebec House of Labour (CSQ) and the Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (CSD). Some 140 claimants from 70 organizations are part of the two legal actions.

In his judgment, Justice Rolland cited the criteria defined by the Supreme Court of Canada to suspend a law -- there must be demonstrated by applicants: a) the seriousness of the question to be tried; b) the possibility of irreparable harm to the applicants if the stay is refused; and c) the balance of inconvenience caused to the parties by the stay, taking into account the public interest.

The judge ruled that only the first criterion was met. For Judge Rolland, "[The Special Law] was passed by the Quebec National Assembly whose members were elected democratically."[1] The Special Law protects the public interest because "If the nature and declared purpose of the legislation is to promote the public interest, the courts should not ask whether the legislation actually has this effect. One must assume that this is the case."[2]

On Articles 16 and 17 of the law, that "preserve peace, order and security," the judge found that if there is prejudice, "the balance of inconvenience clearly favours the public interest given the objectives of the law and the facts found during the events of recent months (violence, harm and damage),"[3] taking up the arguments of the Quebec Attorney General who said, "freedom of expression is not an absolute right and the provisions in question merely indicate the right of citizens to peaceful assembly and to protect the public from all too frequent excesses."[4]

The judge did not protect the students' right of association either. Whereas Articles 18 to 21 of the Special Law grant the Minister of Education the power to demand that a school stop collecting the fees set by a student association, and the power to order any student association to stop making contributions to a federation of associations, Justice Rolland said it is "essentially hypothetical, as classes [have been] suspended until mid-August and the student groups involved [have] already received their dues for the suspended sessions."[5] With this decision, he once again echoed the position of the Quebec Attorney General that marginalizes students stating that "there is a factual vacuum about the student associations. Freedom of association recognized by the Charters is more concerned with associations of employees as defined by the Labour Code."[6]

This ruling takes up the Charest government's arguments in effect justifying the undemocratic decisions taken against the actions of the students and their organizations to defend their right to organize in defence of the right to education. It should also be remembered that on May 1, François Rolland had called for the Quebec Attorney General to intervene in the case of students who filed injunctions to resume their courses. He then said, "It is the twelfth hour, not the eleventh ... There is danger. Someone needs to intervene. I say again, the prosecutor must intervene."

Notes

1. p.12
2. Ibid.
3. p. 15
4. p. 9
5. p. 15
6. p. 10

Coming Events

Conversation with Prominent Cuban Journalist
Arleen Rodrígues Derivet

Click to enlarge.

July Tour of Ontario by CLASSE

Click to enlarge.

The Broad Coalition of Student Union Solidarity (CLASSE) has announced the start of the Quebec-Ontario Student Solidarity Tour this week with a tour of 9 Ontario cities in eight days. The first city visited will be Ottawa.

The aim is to meet with student associations to inform them of the fight in Quebec. CLASSE co-spokesperson Camille Robert hopes that the group can build links with associations in Ontario and exchange strategies on how to mobilize and fight their common struggle. She added that the protest movement remains strong and dispelled the idea that it is weakening. Support for the students remains firm and CLASSE is making sure to keep in touch with the population so that come August when school resumes, there will be maximum support.

"Our main objective is to show how we got here," explained CLASSE co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau Dubois. "We feel a lot of admiration and curiosity from [Ontario students]. We have a certain expertise and a duty to share it," he added.

The student movement's strength comes from its method of organizing, Gabriel Nadeau Dubois said.

"There's no magic to the mobilization," he said. "It's simply work, structure and strategy. The main key to the success in Quebec is exportable because it's in our method of organization. The fact that we have funded and very democratic accredited local student organizations; the fact that we have strong, well-organized national organizations that have stood the test of time. They already have student associations. What we can perhaps inspire in them is the question of direct democracy."

The Ontario organizers of the tour write: "With a quarter of a million people marching in the streets of Montreal for three months in a row, a broad and powerful united resistance has developed and is shaking Quebec. Despite over a thousand arrests, police violence, and disturbing anti-democratic laws brought-in by the Charest Liberal government, the students have held strong.

"Come hear first-hand accounts and analysis explaining how the strike grew from a campaign calling for access to education into a people's struggle for democracy and a better Quebec. [...]

"As federal and provincial austerity budgets impact hard in Ontario, how can we build solidarity as well as a broad, united and growing movement here in Ontario?"

Tour Schedule

For more information please call the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario (416) 925-3825 and say it is regarding the tour, or visit the website: http://solidaritytour.tumblr.com

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