MONTREAL — Some 130 Teamsters union members at the Richelieu Hardware warehouse here went on strike June 17 demanding higher wages and some respect from the bosses. Picket lines, up 12 hours a day, Monday through Friday, are greeted by continuous honks of support from truckers and other passersby.
“It’s not right, the company’s expanded because of us. Now they’re offering 75 cents an hour,” striker Jean-Pierre Primeau, shipping lead hand, told the Militant when I visited and brought muffins and solidarity June 21. Shop steward Marco Chavez added, “Regular workers start at $18.90 an hour [US$13.85]. We want a three-year agreement, the company wants five. There were only two no’s on the strike vote. On the company offer, 61 voted no, 12 voted yes.”
“All the nationalities are together here, even the people who do 30 hours overtime. We succeeded — no one did overtime. People stuck together” in the lead-up to the strike, Josée Farand said proudly. She drives an order picker and other lift trucks.
“There’s one woman who has worked 32 years and is getting only $22.85 an hour,” Farand said. A lot of women work in packaging, where the company started out. “Their wage structure is lower than the rest of us.”
Strikers told the Militant story after story of disrespect by management. “Before we had portable toilets set up on the line the boss called around all the businesses nearby asking them not to give us access to their washrooms or let us park,” Jean-Lesly Maurice said.
Richelieu now has 116 distribution centers in North America. They provide building materials to hardware stores and construction companies. Their 2023 sales were CA$1.8 billion.
Join the picket line or send a solidarity message to Local 106 at magauthier@teamsters.ca.