The workers in the SAQ are on strike. Since months already. The SAQ is the state owned monopolist liquor store and so, close to the holidays, it is really hurting some people. Only a couple of stores on the whole island of Montréal are open, staffed by scabs. In front of those stores, one of them close to our house, are picket lines and people who come out of the stores with their boxes of wine and beer are yelled at and the picketers try to convince them to never do buy there again.
The way unions work, and the power they have in Québec is so alien to me. In the Netherlands unions are completely different institutions and you join them voluntary, to get cheap insurance and other benefits. There is even a union for artists. Here some jobs/sectors are unionized and if you don’t join the union you can’t get that job. On the other hand, if you are in other sectors or have a management job you can’t join a union. If the union decides to strike and you don’t want to, or can’t afford it (you won’t get paid your salary by the union like in the Netherlands) you also face serious repercussions by your co-workers. Unions are very powerful here and some unions misuse that power regularly. So is the union of city blue collar workers threatening to go on strike when the next snow storm hits…
I do however like the way the SAQ picketers used snow to advertise their message.
Dec 13 2004
Strike
The workers in the SAQ are on strike. Since months already. The SAQ is the state owned monopolist liquor store and so, close to the holidays, it is really hurting some people. Only a couple of stores on the whole island of Montréal are open, staffed by scabs. In front of those stores, one of them close to our house, are picket lines and people who come out of the stores with their boxes of wine and beer are yelled at and the picketers try to convince them to never do buy there again.
The way unions work, and the power they have in Québec is so alien to me. In the Netherlands unions are completely different institutions and you join them voluntary, to get cheap insurance and other benefits. There is even a union for artists. Here some jobs/sectors are unionized and if you don’t join the union you can’t get that job. On the other hand, if you are in other sectors or have a management job you can’t join a union. If the union decides to strike and you don’t want to, or can’t afford it (you won’t get paid your salary by the union like in the Netherlands) you also face serious repercussions by your co-workers. Unions are very powerful here and some unions misuse that power regularly. So is the union of city blue collar workers threatening to go on strike when the next snow storm hits…
I do however like the way the SAQ picketers used snow to advertise their message.
By mare • english •