The day after his expulsion from the organization, Bernard “Rambo” Gauthier accuses the leaders of the FTQ-Construction of being disconnected from workers in the regions and of being more interested in the idea of “dipping into the candy dish” than ensuring the safety of construction sites.
“Everything is framed in advance. If no one takes care of them, they are in the ostie candy dish and they do what they want with it,” said the trade unionist in a video published on his Facebook account on Wednesday.
Earlier this week, our Bureau of Investigation reported that the FTQ-Construction had withdrawn from “Rambo” his representative card for the North Shore of local 791 of heavy machinery operators, after the latter had repeatedly criticized the central on social networks.
Disconnected from workers
The unionist criticized the FTQ-Construction in particular for not coming to his rescue after he noticed safety problems on Hydro-Québec construction sites.
“I needed my central [sur les chantiers des centrales hydroélectriques] Bersimis 1 and 2. I had no help. We were forced to do the job alone with the delegates and workers. […] In terms of health and safety, there is nothing to be fooled about. I didn’t have time to wait two, three weeks, a month. […] And it wasn’t my place to do that. It was up to the parent company to speak with the state company about a dangerous situation which was taking place on a Hydro-Québec site,” he explained.
A poorly piloted plane
Bernard Gauthier also accuses the union center of being completely disconnected from the “small worker”.
“They are in their offices, they don’t understand what’s going on. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a manager from my plant here. […] A handshake, once a year, from time to time, that would be fun,” he says in the video.
According to him, the FTQ-Construction is a “poorly piloted plane” by leaders with “excessive egos”.
“It’s all bureaucrats. They run it like a government. […] The union movement is not that,” he says.
In a note sent Tuesday to its union leadership, the FTQ-Construction justified the expulsion of “Rambo” by the receipt of “several complaints asking her to act without delay so that she dissociates herself from her conduct.”
“The FTQ-Construction cannot tolerate this situation any longer, demonstrating a lack of professionalism, respect, discernment and loyalty towards it, its officers, its affiliates and construction workers,” the internal memo also said. .
