Evidence of meeting #47 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was workers.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Secretary General, Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec
We have participated in a lot of negotiations in the airport sector, and up to this point, none of the airports has close down. As I have said, there was a strike at the Quebec city airport that lasted several months, and the airport operated just fine. The employer did not use replacement workers.
I also wanted to mention to Mr. Kelly-Gagnon that there have been some very long strikes in the telecommunications sector. The Bell Canada strike in 1988, for example, lasted 16 weeks. The company operated for 16 weeks without replacement workers.
I believe that companies can operate and, thanks to essential services, airports can operate easily; everyone can rest easy on that.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Airports Council
If the committee would really like to understand how things went at the Quebec airport during that time, and how it may have been a little more difficult than may have been represented here today, I would encourage this committee to continue hearing witnesses and call the Quebec airport authority to talk to them directly.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
With that, thank you to the witnesses.
The meeting is adjourned.