New strike at the Matane-North Mate cross from July 18

A new strike sequence at the Matane-Baie-Comeau-Godbout cross will take place from July 18, for lack of an agreement between the two parties. These new days would occur during the construction holidays, while visitors are many to move to East-du-Québec.

The strike will be held from July 18 to 29 for workers on ships and from July 30 to August 3 for members at the quay, unless significant progress.

Passengers will therefore have to change their route during this period.

The National Union of Cross -Outs of Quebec –CSN made the announcement on Wednesday. A strike has paralyzed the crossing service since July 4.

Union members affiliated with CSN deplore being without a collective agreement since April 2023 and having had no employees increase in three years.

The employer and the government must do what it takes for negotiations to progress. It’s ridiculous to always present the same offers by demanding excessive flexibilityimpatients the president of the National Union of Crossings of Quebec –CSNPatrick St-Laurent.

The president of the central council of the CSN In Bas-Saint-Laurent, Liette Ross, affirms thatNo progress, even as declines were offered at the table on the last day of negotiation. A proposal of 12.7 % increase [sur cinq ans]it’s insufficientshe adds.

Liette Ross maintains that workers on strike are discouragedwhile their collective agreement has been completed for two years.

People are not happy to go on strike […]but after two years, that means that the government is not concerned [d’eux].

It is appropriate that the strike will cause inconvenience for travelers and carriers, but that union members need this negotiation lever since employer offers on the table are not acceptable.

According to Ms. Ross, the next day of negotiation must be held on July 14.

The Treasury Board has not yet responded to our information request. For its part, the Corporate Society of Quebec (STQ) indicates in writing that it remains available to continue negotiations and avoid the use of strike in the future.

The STQ is aware of the impacts of a labor conflict on the population in the current context of summer holidaysit said in a press release.

Waiting for private shipowners

At the Rivière-du-Loup-Saint-Siméon crossing and that of Trois-Pistoles-Les Escoumins, traffic is higher than usual because of this strike, according to their managers.

The captain manager of inheritance I for the Basques navigation company, Jean-Philippe Denis-Rioux, notes that the ship is as much as possible at any time of the day. All our trips have been full since the start of the strikehe testifies.

Travelers met at the Quai de Rivière-du-Loup testified that they had to extend their route several hours on the road to take a traveler.

We go to Sept-Îles. That’s sure it’s not a gift. We almost go aroundreported a motorist who said she left Charlottetown, on Prince Edward’s Island, to go to the North Shore.

We are taken in hostages. It is we who are taken hostagedropped another traveler from New Richmond, in the heat bay.

All could not get on the traveler in the morning on Thursday. Motorists therefore had to await the return of the traveler in the afternoon so that they could finally go to the opposite bank.

Some of them seemed to get impatient, but others took the situation with more philosophy, some of them even leaving camping chairs to enjoy the good weather.

It’s not long. You bring your music, your lunchlaunched one of them smiling.

With information from Édouard Beaudoin