What Participants Said in the Course of the Vigil
 
Dominic Lemieux, Quebec Director of the
Syndicat des Métallos/United Steelworkers
On the first day of the vigil, May 31, Dominic Lemieux said, "Bill 59 as it
stands must be abandoned. It needs to be reworked and come back with a
new draft, because there are too many things wrong with this bill." Lemieux made several statements over
the three days. Speaking to a reporter from Le
Soleil on June 1, he said:
"The most important aspect of the labour
movement is really the
safety and health of the members we represent. I
know what that is. In
our grandparents' days many miners died, over
200 miners every year.
Now it's one worker a year. We must not stop our
efforts to prevent
injuries and deaths. We want the same tools for
prevention in all
sectors in Quebec, it is very clear. This is a
major issue. We are
talking about our lives. "
In a June 1 United Steelworkers' press release
he states:
"Bill 59 will lead to major setbacks in health
and safety prevention
in our workplaces and cuts in compensation for
injured workers. If this
legislation is adopted, protections currently
provided in the law will
no longer be available and unions will have to
negotiate new provisions
in collective agreements to compensate for the
weakening of our
laws. This is disastrous for non-unionized
workers, who have no such
recourse, and is a threat to labour relations as
it will increase the
risk of labour disputes over issues that were
previously settled in
law."
In appreciation of the presence of striking
ArcelorMittal workers at
the vigil, he writes in the same press release:
"Steelworkers are
showing that distance is not a barrier to
solidarity. Community and
labour solidarity is built through the people
who live and work in our
communities."
Felix Lapan, Spokesperson for the Union des
Travailleuses et
Travailleurs Accidentés ou Malades (UTTAM)
On the first morning of the vigil, May 31, he
said:
"We are here in front of the National Assembly
with
activists from the labour movement for 59 hours.
For us, as for the
Steelworkers, this is not acceptable. This bill
is not acceptable
because of the setbacks in compensation,
setbacks in the recognition of
occupational diseases, setbacks to the right to
medical assistance,
setbacks to the right to
rehabilitation, a whole bunch of setbacks to our
rights. We know the
situation. We defend the victims of work-related
accidents and
illnesses. This bill is unacceptable and we will
fight it to the end."
Chantal Ide, Vice-President of the CNTU
Central Council of Greater Montreal
On the first morning of the vigil, she said:
"We are here to denounce this bill, to show
that we are all
united behind our demand to have a health and
safety law that really
protects us. The health and safety of workers is
not negotiable. There
are no concessions to be made on our side. We
will keep this vigil for
59 hours. We will fight until the end to obtain
a law that will really
protect the workers in Quebec."
Karine Sénéchal, President of USW Local 5778
Karine Sénéchal represents ArcelorMittal
workers at
the Mont-Wright mine in Fermont who have been on
strike since May 10.
The mining complex includes a concentrator where
workers are very
concerned about the level of noise and dust,
particularly silica dust,
and the risk of contracting silicosis.
"We have to wear personal respiratory
protection equipment to
work at the concentrator because the employer
has not completed the
work needed to reduce risks. Imagine if the law
becomes less demanding
of companies -- it will have an even greater,
regressive domino
effect," she told the vigil.
Martin Maurice, President of the
Olymel Vallée-Jonction-CSN Workers' Union
The union represents Olymel workers in
Vallée-Jonction who have been on strike since
April 28.
After demonstrating in the streets of Quebec
City on June 2, the workers joined the vigil
where the union president said:
"In negotiations, in addition to setbacks
affecting our working
conditions, Olymel has also tabled demands for
setbacks in occupational
health and safety. At our plant, we are
fast-paced, hard-working and we
experience about 400 work-related accidents each
year, often
musculoskeletal injuries, so we are more than
concerned about the holes
in
Bill 59. Over time, we have been able to
negotiate advances in our
collective agreement to protect workers in the
event of an accident and
now our employer and the government are
attacking these and wanting to
remove the only tools that allow us to deal with
those who are injured
on the job."
This article was published in
June 4, 2021 - No. 53
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2021/Articles/WO08532.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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