LAVAL, Quebec — Twenty-four hours after 100 workers walked off the job in a one-day strike July 8, the Heroux-Devtek bosses, rather than negotiating with their union, the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN), locked them out.
Heroux-Devtek is the third largest manufacturer of airplane landing gear in the world. Its profits last year were $38.3 million, up 177% from previous year.
The workers here are fighting to close a wage gap of eight Canadian dollars an hour ($5.85) with workers at Heroux-Devtek’s plant in Longueuil. A recent contract won by those workers further widened the wage differential.
We were warmly welcomed when we visited the picket line July 18, bringing a couple boxes of donuts. The plant is on a busy street, and many drivers honked their horns in solidarity as they drove by.
The bosses “are angry at us for carrying out the July 8 strike,” Maryse Huot, a leader of the union’s mobilization committee who has worked as an assembler here for 39 years, told the Militant. “Because of the unity we showed, they want to crush the union.
“Recently the company hired young workers with different ethnic backgrounds, for example, workers from India and Muslims,” Huot said. They thought “these new hires would help to undermine the union. But that strategy didn’t work. We stood strong together during the one-day strike.”
“Before, I would pass a picket line and wonder why they are on strike and think maybe they are just a bunch of whiners. Now I won’t cross a picket line,” she said. “I will always honk in solidarity and bring donuts for the pickets. And I have learned the bosses use the media to slander the union.”
The workers have been reaching out to other aerospace workers, setting up informational picket lines at CSN-organized plants. They need solidarity! Visit the picket line. Solidarity messages can be sent by email to hubert.forcier@csn.qc.ca, by phone to 1-800-947-6177, or mailed to CSN 1601, avenue De Lorimier, Montreal, Quebec H2K 4M5.