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Defending the Dignity and Rights of Quebec Slaughterhouse Workers No to Government and Company Provocations Against Olymel Workers in Vallée-Jonction!A thousand workers at the Olymel hog slaughter plant in Vallée-Jonction have been on strike since April 28 for wages and working conditions they consider acceptable. The Quebec Minister of Labour and Olymel spokespersons have recently flooded the airwaves to try to smear the workers' reputation. The accusation is that the workers want to prolong the strike, to cause serious damage to Quebec pork producers and that they will be responsible for the euthanasia of 130,000 hogs if the strike is not resolved soon. "This has to stop. A labour dispute of this nature cannot be tolerated in Quebec," said Labour Minister Jean Boulet on RDI TV. He failed to mention the fact that these workers made huge concessions in wages, pensions and working conditions in 2007 under threat of the imminent closure of the plant, and that the struggle today is to regain ground and win conditions that the workers consider acceptable, including from the point of view of their health and safety. Olymel spokespersons have said that the workers are asking for too much, have accused them of jeopardizing the plant's survival and have threatened to transfer the Vallée-Jonction plant's operations elsewhere if the strike does not end. The workers do not accept the struggle for the dignity of labour being used to threaten their livelihood or the existence of industrial facilities. Why should their livelihoods and the well-being of the local and regional economy not be matters worthy of protection and investment because human beings depend on them, not narrow private interests who only aim is to increase their personal wealth. Such narrow private interests certainly do not care about the workers and they do not care about the hogs or the pork producers either. For the government to cry crocodile tears for the hogs and pork producers is absurd. The workers are also against attempts by the government and company to bring down their union so that every worker will have to fend for themself. Workers' Forum wholeheartedly supports the struggle of the Olymel workers for their rights.
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