"This rally gives us energy to take the next steps," stated Antoine Comtois, 25, who has worked in the company’s technical service department for two-and-a-half years. Describing their action as "the carnival of hoodlums," the protesters poked fun at the company’s public description of the locked-out workers and its phony accusation that strikers have been involved in sabotage. Participants came with drums and trumpets, disguising themselves as "hoodlums."

Videotron employees on May 7 overwhelmingly rejected the company’s contract offer, with more than 99 percent of the workers voting for a strike mandate. At midnight on the following day, the workers walked out. Fifteen minutes later the bosses of Quebecor declared a lockout. The struggle is centered around a series of issues with important stakes for workers: contracting out, who belongs to the union, job security, wage cuts, and the prolonging of the workday by 30 minutes without an increase in wages.

Quebecor owns printing plants in many countries, daily papers, a television network, magazines, publishing houses, the second most important bookstore chain in Quebec, and video rental stores. Videotron, which was bought by Quebecor last year, has television cable and internet services, principally in Quebec.

Under sharp competition by expanding satellite dish technology, Videotron adopted a restructuring plan following its acquisition by Quebecor that includes transferring a substantial number of jobs done by its employees to other companies. An agreement was signed with a subsidiary of Entourage selling them the service and installation departments, covering 650 employees, shortly after the union’s contract expires, which prohibited such a move. Many of these workers may see their wages cut by as much as 30 percent.

Videotron has also called on the services of Nexxlink to take over a part of the technical support work and of Joncas, which is owned by Quebecor, to take over customer service. "We’re not part of the company’s plans," explained a striker who works in technical support but preferred not to be identified. "Contracting out has gone from 15 percent to 100 percent since last year," he added, pointing out that customer calls go to these companies on a priority basis rather than to Videotron employees.

Unionists have also occupied the Montreal offices of the Caisse de dépôt et de placement du Quebec, a Quebec government financial agency that owns 45 percent of the shares in Videotron and had lent $3 billion to Quebecor so it could buy Videotron.

The company has succeeded in getting a court injunction that limits the number of pickets to 12. In response to this attack, the union has organized secondary picket lines in front of stores and video clubs belonging to Quebecor. This has allowed the strikers to be more visible and establish links with workers in the districts where the video clubs are located.

The company has led a sustained campaign against the strikers, accusing them of sabotage and vandalism against its installations. It is offering up to $25,000 for any information against the union or its members. Police raided union offices June 10, confiscating union records. Videotron is also suing CUPE for $5 million in damages.

The company has been hiring strikebreakers, especially students. Videotron is using its status as a telecommunications company covered by federal jurisdiction to avoid the provisions of a Quebec law that prohibits employers from hiring scabs.

In another development, the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN) announced July 13 that 4,000 workers would go on strike for 24 hours if progress was not made in negotiations covering 23 hotels in Montreal.

Érick Desmarais is a member of the Young Socialists. Christian Cornejo contributed to this article.  
 
 
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