(Quebec) Five ferries operated by the Société des traversiers du Québec (STQ) will be disrupted by a strike on June 21 and 22, as navigation officers and engineering officers begin using the 10-day strike mandate they came from to equip oneself.
The crossings concerned are those of Québec/Lévis, Matane/Godbout, Tadoussac/Baie-Sainte-Catherine, L’Isle-aux-Coudres/Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive, as well as Sorel-Tracy/Saint-Ignace- de-Loyola.
The Steelworkers union, which represents 150 workers in this negotiation, has proposed maintaining minimal service at the L’Isle-aux-Coudres and Tadoussac crossings, where the ferry is the only possible link.
The other three sleepers would therefore be completely paralyzed during the strike days. However, it will be up to the Administrative Labor Tribunal to determine the level of service required during the strike for all the ferries concerned.
In a statement, the union said the June 21 and 22 strike days will be the first two used under a 10-day strike mandate that was adopted by 93% of union members who spoke out.
The main issue in the negotiations concerns salaries, while the union deplores that its members earn about $10 an hour less than other officers with comparable certificates.
“Salaries are not competitive at the Ferry Company compared to what is offered elsewhere in the maritime sector. The STQ itself pays two to three times more than what it offers its own officers for agency employees,” denounced the president of USW Local 9599, Captain Simon Carbonneau Graton.
The union also criticizes the employer for having recently introduced into the negotiations a requirement for “flexibility” which, according to it, is not well defined.