Two of Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s largest unions representing nearly 9,000 workers have moved in tandem to escalate pressure on the Crown corporation.<\/p>\n
Both the Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec Trades Employees Union (CUPE-1500) and the Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec Technologists Union (CUPE 957) announced Tuesday they filed strike notices after more than two years of stalled negotiations, saying they will refuse to work overtime<\/p>\n
The Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec Trades Employees Union (CUPE-1500), which represents more than 6,200 skilled workers including line workers and mechanics, said it filed a strike notice to \u201cget things moving\u201d after what it called unproductive talks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re waiting for a response from the employer following a submission made over two weeks ago, but it\u2019s radio silence,\u201d said its president, Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Savard. \u201cAt some point, things need to get serious at the bargaining table \u2026 and right now, senior management isn\u2019t showing up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also Tuesday, the Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec Technologists Union (CUPE 957), representing more than 2,700 technologists, filed its own strike notice.<\/p>\n
Its president, Robert Claveau, said the move came after \u201ctwo and a half years of patience,\u201d warning that negotiations could drag on until 2027 without a shift in approach.<\/p>\n
Both unions point to the growing use of subcontracting as a central concern. They argue it risks eroding in-house expertise and driving up costs, and also worry about\u00a0what they describe as creeping privatization within the utility.<\/p>\n
The collective agreements for both expired at the end of 2023. <\/p>\n
Essential services would be maintained under rules overseen by the Administrative Labour Tribunal, the unions added, and said their actions were not intended to disrupt service to the public.<\/p>\n
Louis-Olivier Batty, a Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec spokesperson, told The Gazette the utility will not be commenting on the union dispute as it is \u201cnegotiating in good faith.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo ensure continuity of service to the public, our activities are subject to the requirements set by the Administrative Labour Tribunal regarding essential services,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two of Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s largest unions representing nearly 9,000 workers have moved in tandem to escalate pressure on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,2338],"class_list":["post-650167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-montreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}