The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.62/No.10           March 16, 1998 
 
 
Quebec Machinists Turn Lockout Into Strike  

BY GRANT HARGRAVE
MONTREAL - The workers at Peerless Luminaires in the Montreal suburb of Lasalle have been on the picket line since January 28. The company originally locked out the 110 members of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) Local Lodge 2133, but the workers decided to turn the lockout into a strike by an almost unanimous vote. They are picketing the lighting fixtures plant for three shifts a day, five days a week

Abel Vaz, vice president of the lodge, said, "The company wants to throw the working conditions that we fought 25 years to win into the garbage." Concessions that the company is demanding include cutting salaries to what they were in 1995, which will mean an average loss of $1.45 per hour; taking away paid holidays; attacking seniority provisions in the contract; and the loss of one week of vacation for some workers.

Suzanne Lamarche, who was the union president during the last strike in 1979, explained how the company has consciously hired different groups of immigrants in an attempt to divide workers. When a wave of Vietnamese, who spoke neither French nor English, were hired the union used translators in its meetings to draw them in. Lamarche said that the company has threatened not to hire any more Blacks or women because they "demand too much."

Because the company president has a Filipina maid she decided to hire Filipinos thinking they would be docile. But that backfired too; the Filipinos are on the picket line with the others, Lamarche added. Up to 19 languages are spoken in the plant by workers coming from Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, and Latin America, as well as many Quebecois.

During the strike the company has forced the office workers, who are not unionized, to work in the plant with foremen to maintain about 30 percent of production. Only two union members have crossed the picket line. Provocations by the company increased in the months leading up to the lockout. Several workers expressed the opinion that the new personnel manager, who they refer to as the "pit bull," was brought in to break the union.

The parking lot that borders the picket line is patrolled by security guards who film everything, including any visitors. Despite this and the winter weather, workers react with humor and spirit. They have a spot light, which they turn on the security guards' cameras and flash at bosses who leave the plant in the evening. Freda, a young Haitian worker, was offering the security guards dog biscuits during a visit by Militant correspondents.

Workers are settling in for a long strike. The government conciliator accused the company of not negotiating seriously. The next negotiating session is scheduled for March 3.

Grant Hargrave is a member of IAM Local Lodge 1758. Michel Prairie and Simon Beaudoin contributed to this article.  
 
 
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