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A delegation from CUPE Ontario that included the president Sid Ryan, and vice-presidents Yolanda McClean and Candace Rennick, visited the office space of MédiaMatinQuébec on July 8, and distributed plaques to mark the historic occasion. On July 9 everyone took to the streets and distributed papers near the old city of Quebec. MédiaMatinQuebec is the ingenious paper started by the workers from Journal de Quebec. Because of its high quality this paper was an innovation that brought tremendous recognition to the workers and presented very real competition for the employer. From the locked-out locals, brother Marc Fortier and sister Marie-France Loubier, who had visited the CUPE Ontario annual convention in Niagara Falls acted as a tour guide for the visit.
At the CUPE Ontario convention the locked-out workers from the Journal de Québec received overwhelming support from the Ontario delegates and strong financial support after being locked-out by their employer, Québecor/Sun Media, for over 13 months. The Journal de Québec workers received over $60,000 in support from the CUPE Ontario convention floor, which was matched by CUPE National, giving them over $120,000 in total donations.
Now, after 13 months on strike the locked-out workers have achieved a settlement -overwhelmingly supported by their membership – and they are set to begin returning to work with their heads held high. Facing an extremely difficult and obstinate employer, the solidarity and financial support from CUPE Ontario certainly help send a strong message that as workers they had the full backing of CUPE right across our vast nation.
CUPE Québec help to facilitate and host the CUPE Ontario visit to Québec. The delegation from CUPE Québec included Lucie Levasseur, CUPE-Québec’s president, Michel Parent, City of Montreal’s blue collar workers union and Nathalie Stringer, president of the cabin attendant’s union of Air Transat.
