Wages, workload are main issues: Teamsters
Five groups of workers at Résidences Soleil retirement homes in Granby, Laval, Saint Hilaire, Pointe-aux-Trembles and Saint-Laurent, in Quebec, will go on strike at 8 a.m. on July 17, unless their employer can put forward a fair and acceptable contract offer, according to Teamsters, Local 106.
Their latest offers — which were submitted in the presence of a mediator — were rejected by about 300 employees at various union meetings over the last few weeks, said the union.
Wages and workload are the main sticking points.
Wages in private sector retirement homes are $6 per hour behind those in public sector homes, despite staff doing exactly the same work and caring for seniors with the same passion and dedication, said the union.
“We’re talking about women and men who care for our seniors. It’s an important job, and they deserve to be paid accordingly,” said Jean Chartrand, president of Teamsters, Local 106.
Workers have noticed that employees at some Résidences Soleil retirement homes are even quitting their jobs to work at fast food restaurants, citing higher wages, said the union.
Workers at the Résidences Soleil retirement home in Boucherville voted 74 per cent to accept management offers at a union meeting last June, thereby averting a strike at that location, according to Teamsters.
The union represents more than 40,000 workers in Quebec.
