After nearly 10 months of lockout, Videotron and unionized workers in Gatineau heading back to negotiations

As a lockout between Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron and its unionized employees in Gatineau approaches its tenth month, a resolution might be in sight. What union leaders expected to be a routine bargaining process to renew their collective agreement — which expired in August 2021 — quickly deteriorated into a standoff between the company and its employees, largely stemming from disagreements over Videotron’s alleged use of subcontractors and the handling of grievances filed by its workers. Local 2815 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) is made up of two bargaining units: one representing 214 Videotron workers in Gatineau, and the other representing about 2,800 Videotron workers in Montreal. Members of the Gatineau unit have been barred from returning to work since Oct. 30 and, according to CUPE 2815 local president Nick Mingione, talks have been at a standstill since early April when the two sides last met to negotiate. Now, on Monday, the union expects to meet with Videotron for negotiations, to be overseen by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Mingione said in a statement on the union’s website Thursday that the group hopes it will “serve as a springboard towards a rapid resolution of this conflict.” The meeting comes after an Aug. 9 intervention from Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon, who met both union and Videotron leadership separately. The minister’s office did not respond to a request for comment, but in a post on X, MacKinnon called for both sides to return to talks. “I strongly encouraged the parties to return to the negotiating table, and made all my department's resources available to help them reach an agreement,” MacKinnon wrote. Videotron and the union have been butting heads for a long time, according to Mingione. As soon as the two sides first sat down for bargaining in late 2022, the company had no intention to negotiate and went straight to mediation, he alleged. “In the normal terms of negotiation, there was no negotiating… alone, face to face,” said Mingione in an interview with The Wire Report. Videotron has said that mediation through the Department of Labour was requested after “a number of bargaining sessions with the union.” Bargaining breaks down After almost a year of back-and-forth, 74 per cent of the smaller Gatineau unit rejected Videotron’s final offer on Oct. 18. “Given the union’s intransigence, Videotron management had no choice but to serve a lock‑out notice,” the telecom company said at the time. Videotron is seeking to increase outsourcing, particularly when it comes to its call centre jobs. According to a statement from the company in October, it had over 350 vacant call centre positions “despite ongoing recruitment efforts.” “We therefore need to find alternative solutions to the hiring challenges affecting our entire highly competitive industry,” said CEO of Quebecor and Videotron Pierre Karl Péladeau in an Aug. 9 media release, after meeting with the labour minister. The union blames the large number of vacancies on an alleged lack of effort from Videotron. Union leadership previously told The Wire Report that Videotron is seeking the ability to outsource up to 100 per cent of the call centre jobs in Gatineau. The union’s previous contract limited outsourcing to 40 per cent of annual workloads. Videotron would not confirm the details of its new outsourcing demands, but said it has “committed to no layoffs in jobs for which it uses outsourcing.” Despite the company’s statements, the union alleged in a statement in French that it “still refuses to include a formal job security clause to make this promise a reality.” “If we agreed to that, there's no doubt in my mind… that the workforce, the membership of would be drastically reduced, if not just basically wiped off the face of the earth,” said CUPE national president Mark Hancock. “That’s a big problem for us.” By outsourcing call centres to other countries, telecom companies do not have to keep up with domestic labour standards, allowing them to pay employees a fraction of Canadian wages with no benefits, he explained. “These workers are not going to be paying taxes to the Quebec government, to the Canadian government. There's a real loss here, and is just going to see his profits and shareholders’ profits go up as a result of this,” he said. “But it's not good for workers and it's not good for Canadians.” “It's not just a union issue, it's a country issue,” said Hancock. “If we don't have good paying jobs, family supporting jobs, then what the hell are we doing?” Changes to the grievance process CUPE 2815 is also fighting Videotron’s demand to change how union grievances are handled, citing a large number of active grievances from its Gatineau members compared to other bargaining units in eastern Quebec and Saguenay. While the company did not clarify what its terms are, CUPE leadership alleges that Videotron wants grievances to expire after 24 months. “Twenty-four months may seem like a reasonable time,” said Hancock. “But we've seen employers, including this employer, stall things, and to have a hard date like that just doesn't make any sense.” “Sometimes grievances can be complex,” he explained. “We've waited more than a couple years in a number of cases for a result to come forward.” “Difficult rounds of bargaining aren't necessarily uncommon, but when you use the tactic of blocking out workers and then bringing in scabs, that is a real problem,” said Hancock. Right now, “Péladeau wants in Gatineau, but he really wants this across the whole province,” alleged Hancock. The union president noted that the collective agreement for CUPE’s Montreal bargaining unit is set to expire in December 2025. He is worried about the same dispute happening there. Mingione expressed a similar sentiment. “It is possible that took Gatineau as hostages, in order to pass a message to the 2,800 members that we have in Montreal,” he alleged. “They have targeted Gatineau, to take it alone and to make an example out of it.” Videotron did not comment on its upcoming negotiations in Montreal, but noted that — of the four collective agreements it has with its unionized employees — “each has its own specific features and issues, from both the union and employer perspectives.” Allegations start to fly Videotron has allegedly hired replacement workers or “scabs” from subcontractors to take over the roles of the locked out employees, a tactic the union calls an “unacceptable and irresponsible practice threatens the dignity and fundamental rights of all workers.” In a statement to The Wire Report, the company explained that “Videotron must maintain business continuity and has been working with subcontractors for years, when the situation requires it.” Tensions have grown between the union and subcontractors during the lockout. Eight months in, on July 3, the union alleged that some people associated with a local subcontractor visited the home of a union member to “intimidate” them. The union responded with a sit-in at the alleged subcontractor’s office. Mingione acknowledged that the location was in a residential area, so he said they quietly picketed outside. “We simply sat down and we had our flags, we had our slogans, but there was no shouting, no singing, no screaming, nothing, just a sit down. So they know that we know where they ‘live.’” Videotron later alleged that a subcontracted employee was being insulted online by “certain locked-out employees” and that relatives of the subcontractor had tried to stop the attacks by speaking with a union representative in person. The following day, union members received a formal notice from Videotron saying that its facilities had allegedly been the target of sabotage and vandalism. The company explained that several of its cables had been cut or disconnected and warned that it may pursue legal action. “The frequency of these acts leads us to believe that they are a reaction to the labour dispute currently in progress. Moreover, the location and/or nature of the acts tend to show that the perpetrator or perpetrators had knowledge of the Videotron network,” the telecom’s lawyers wrote in French. “Several of the union’s members have such knowledge.” The union issued a release on its website, alleging the company was making false accusations and calling it an “intimidation tactic that is well established” by Videotron. Mingione pointed to accusations made by the company back in 2001, during a previous labour dispute in Montreal. Vandalizing Videotron’s infrastructure would not help further negotiations in any way, the union local president explained. “I know Péladeau, we know Péladeau. There’s nothing that's going to convince him to come and sit down if we act that way,” said Mingione. “I wrote an email to the company,” he said, asking Videotron to share any information it might have so the union could investigate and “get to the bottom of the problem.” “They never did,” said Mingione. When asked for comment, the company said that “no charges or allegations have been made against the union, but Videotron had an obligation to inform the union of the acts of vandalism and sabotage against its network.” The Wire Report obtained an internal note issued to company employees on July 10 and signed by senior director of labour relations Martin Dalpé, in which the telecom dismissed the union’s arguments towards it. “Mr. Mingione accuses Videotron of being ‘an intimidating, quarrelsome and vengeful employer.’ We strongly deplore these comments and find these accusations ironic and unfounded, considering the behaviour on the part of union representatives as well as some of its members since the start of the conflict and during recent events,” the note stated in French. Videotron accused the union of committing “several acts of intimidation and violence … against representatives of the employer and employees of subcontractors, in particular the blocking of vehicles on the various Videotron work sites, the use of strobe lights and compressed air horns compromising the health and safety of vehicle passengers, not to mention the numerous insults and threats directed towards them.” Mingione dismissed the accusations, arguing that the union has the right to protest. “It's a typical lockout, it's a normal protest,” he said. “ decided to prevent 214 workers . What did he expect? Flowers at home?” According to Péladeau’s Aug. 9 statements, “more than 95 per cent of the collective agreement has been settled, including all salary clauses, the duration of the agreement, outsourcing and the filling of job openings.” Videotron said that the union remains “intransigent” on terms regarding union leave and grievances. “He’s twisting words, he’s twisting reality,” said Mingione, who accused Péladeau and Videotron of ignoring conditional offers from the union. “Our offer was conditional that he meets our demands too,” said the union local president. “If he doesn't meet our demands, why would say yes to his?” Videotron would not confirm if the allegedly settled terms were conditional, saying it “does not wish to negotiate in public” and “is ready and willing to continue discussions with the union at the bargaining table.” – Reporting by Phalen Tynes-MacDonald at pcreed@thewirereport.ca

After nearly 10 months of lockout, Videotron and unionized workers in Gatineau heading back to negotiations

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By Phalen Tynes-MacDonald
| August 19, 2024

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After nearly 10 months of lockout, Videotron and unionized workers in Gatineau heading back to negotiations

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