Administrative Labor Court Orders Brandt Tractor to Cease Use of Scabs Amidst Strike

The Administrative Labor Court orders the company Brandt Tractor to stop using scabs.

The employees of the Chicoutimi branch have been on strike for more than two months and, despite this labor dispute, activities were maintained.

The Brandt Tractor company was calling on employees from outside the region to ensure that its activities at its Chicoutimi branch continued despite the strike.

This is what we learn in the decision of the administrative labor tribunal rendered last Friday.

“These are workers who come from Laval, Baie-Comeau, other branches of Brandt. They come to do the work that normally is done 100% by two of our workers here, ”explained the adviser for the national union of garage employees of Quebec, Martin Lévesque.

Despite the court order to stop the use of scabs, company trucks were reportedly seen in the area on Monday.

“We saw activities yesterday. There’s a truck that wasn’t ours that was driving around the area. If the past is a guarantor of the future, it is doubtful that they respect [l’ordonnance]. I say that with all reservations. Victory after victory one wonders one day when they will respect the orders of the judges, because there we are even going into contempt of court, ”he said.

The ten employees of the Chicoutimi establishment are the only ones to be unionized and they want to remain so.

“The company, I think it doesn’t want a union anymore. That’s what she often says to the workers”, mentioned Mr. Lévesque.

“Since it’s Brandt, there have been drastic changes. In all the other branches, there are plenty of people who left on their own because they didn’t get the same treatment. That’s why we want to keep our union and show solidarity with all the gains we’ve managed to make. We don’t want to lose them,” continued Carl Gaudreault, a company employee for 32 years and a union representative.

Over the next few hours, the union will send a letter to elected officials and merchants in the region to make them aware of their reality.

“I call for regional solidarity from everyone, launched Mr. Gaudreault. If we stop using replacement workers and comply with the judges’ order, the dispute will probably end quickly. That’s what we want anyway.”