MONTREAL — Two busloads of locked-out members of the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN) at the McKesson distribution center in Drummondville, about an hour and a half drive from Montreal, joined locked-out CSN workers on their picket line here in front of Prelco, a window manufacturer, Sept. 3.
On June 19 Prelco locked its 95 workers out shortly after they went on strike for a few hours. Their contract expired Jan. 31. Wages are a key issue.
“We have to fight for what we are worth. Prelco is not appreciating the fact that we make their company run,” Mark Harbour, a machine operator for seven years, told the Militant. “We’re asking for 21% over a four-year contract that won’t even catch us up to inflation.”
McKesson locked out its 105 workers in Drummondville Aug. 16. Their contract expired in February.
Workers there are fighting to have the same wages and working conditions that McKesson workers have at the company’s Montreal facility. At the same time, McKesson bosses have announced plans to close the Drummondville distribution center in 2026 and consolidate in Montreal. The CSN is fighting to see that workers have the right to a job there.
McKesson is a large international pharmaceutical company based in Texas with more than 50,000 workers.