Some 900 truckers went on strike October 22, battling 41 transport companies as well as the provincial and federal governments to win union recognition and a first contract. They are members of the Syndicat National du Transport Routier (SNTR--National Union of Truckers), which is affiliated to the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CNTU).

The drivers haul containers to and from the port of Montreal and railway terminals. They include owner-operators, who are unable to cover their costs; truck drivers working for temporary labor agencies, who earn $12 an hour when they have work; and company-employed drivers, working at low wages with few benefits.

On November 2 Quebec premier Lucien Bouchard enacted strike-breaking legislation. The truckers and their union refused to submit to the law and remained defiant in the face of more than $2 million in fines levied by the government and $16 million in lawsuits initiated by trucking bosses. As many as 200 strikers were fired. Some had their trucks seized.

An injunction barred strikers from blocking the movement of trucks. Three drivers were arrested November 11 on trumped-up criminal charges, such as possession of a weapon--a slingshot. They were released within 24 hours for lack of evidence.

According to the agreement to end the strike, the government, acting through a "special advisor," will look into the CSN's accreditation demands, set up a mechanism for the rehiring of the fired strikers, and create a job placement committee for those not rehired. The lawsuits and fines remain before the courts.

The agreement was accepted by 66 percent of the 250 strikers attending the November 19 meeting.

Earlier that day, 250 striking truckers and their supporters stopped traffic on a busy downtown street as they picketed a federal election campaign rally for the Bloc Québécois, where Bouchard was scheduled to speak.

Supporters of the Bloc, which is led by Gilles Duceppe, had to stand outside in the cold listening to chants of "Boo, Boo, Bouchard" and "Duceppe, Bouchard, we form a bloc against repression."

Duceppe has implicitly backed his Parti Québécois provincial ally by refusing to comment on the strike and the repressive legislation during the federal election.

"When [the company] Alcan lays people off because they have no orders, there is no special law to force them to keep running at a loss. So why am I forced to keep running when I'm losing money?" stated Réal Lacombe to the approval of other truckers at the strike headquarters the morning of November 18. The headquarters was set up across the street from one of the main port entrances.

Speaking to the Militant the day before the settlement about the impact of their action, strikers laughed when asked about assertions by Bouchard and the port authority that things had been returning to normal. One striker pointed to an area of the port normally reserved for steel shipments but piled with containers. This reporter took up another striker's suggestion and drove past the Canadian National Railway Terminal to see the containers piled four or five high instead of the normal safe limit of three. A November 16 press release by the CNTU quoted statements by agribusiness representatives in the Western province of Manitoba saying that they rerouted shipments to avoid Montreal. Arthur Sandborn, president of the Montreal Council of the CNTU, told the Militant November 19 that containers were backed up in Winnipeg, Halifax, and Toronto.

The impact of the strike created a small breach in the bosses' ranks. The November 9 La Presse reported that three companies had signed back-to-work agreements with the union. However, the bosses' organization, the Quebec Trucking Association, instructed its members not to negotiate with the CNTU.

The strikers maintained round-the-clock picketing at the port. Every weekday morning, scores of drivers gathered at the strike headquarters to maintain a presence at the gate. There were frequent demonstrations like the one at the Bloc Quebecois rally.

On November 13, some 150 CNTU representatives joined strikers near the port entrance. Three days later, truckers demonstrated outside the offices of one of the trucking firms, Intra-Quebec.

Al Cappe is a meat packer in Montreal.  
 
 
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