Good afternoon.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for having us here to testify on a bill with which the FTQ is quite familiar.
The right to use replacement workers equates, for all practical purposes, to giving employers the right to dismiss all their employees when a labour dispute occurs.
There are two of us testifying here this morning. I am accompanied by Ms. Allard who worked at Canada Post Corporation and who experienced labour disputes involving replacement workers.
We have argued against the use of replacement workers for 30 to 40 years. Every time replacement workers are called on, labour disputes turn violent. It is ridiculous to believe, even in this day and age, that there would be no violence if replacement workers were to cross the picket lines.
A couple of weeks ago, in Montreal, residents came and demonstrated in front of strikers who had been on the picket line for nine months. It is absolutely ridiculous to believe that workers on strike for the last nine months would be in a good mood and that crossing a picket line that had been in existence for such a long time would not lead to violence.
In the United States, the government has practically dismissed a number of air traffic controllers. In Canada, early this century, the Maclaren company used replacement workers. Union leaders were killed and their families were banished from the region for 50 years.
In 1974, United Aircraft faced a 20-month strike which led to confrontations, dismissals, and people going to prison and getting injured. The dispute was so bad that the company had to change name in order to continue to operate in Quebec.
Quebec's anti-scab legislation came as a result of this and other conflicts. Before this legislation was enacted, body guards shot at workers during a conflict at Robin Hood, in Montreal. More recently, there was a labour conflict at Vidéotron.
I'll now let Monique talk about the dispute at Canada Post Corporation.