Even if there was some progress, the negotiation meeting, which was held on Wednesday between the union and employer parties, did not allow agreement on the crucial question of salary increases.
“The monetary demands are not reasonable. They are beyond the means of paying for the Granby Zoo. If we accept them, we risk endangering our institution,” reacted Paul Gosselin, general director of the zoo, in an interview with The Voice of the East.
“We are the best in the tourism industry in terms of working conditions, salaries, RRSPs and leave. We are really competitive in the field,” added Mr. Gosselin to demonstrate that his company is an employer of choice.
Since the end of July 2024, around 130 employees of the zoo have been locked out. For the moment, the normative questions of the future collective agreement which govern working conditions are to the satisfaction of the union and the employer.
The general director of the Granby Zoo hopes that the labor dispute will be resolved soon.
Other mobilization operations may soon be carried out by locked-out union employees at the Granby Zoo. (Catherine Trudeau/La Voix de l’Est)
“I sincerely hope that this will be resolved before spring. The actions we are making at the negotiating table go in this direction, but not at any price,” underlined Mr. Gosselin.
Order of the Administrative Labor Court
During the telephone interview he gave us, Paul Gosselin wanted to return to the order issued by the Administrative Labor Tribunal on December 19.
The Court asked the Société Zoologique de Granby to no longer use strikebreakers during a lockout situation.
-The document of which The Voice of the East obtained a precise copy that the employer called on replacement workers to carry out tasks normally carried out by employees in the bargaining unit owned by the union, which the Labor Code does not authorize.
Since the lockout, it is the managers who are responsible for these tasks which mainly affect the well-being of the animals at the Granby Zoo.
Mr. Gosselin told us that the six people targeted by the order were employed by the zoo.
“It is important to clarify that the positions in question are located in a gray area with regard to the legal definition of an employee (versus a manager) within the meaning of the law, because it is not because these positions are not not unionized that they cannot be considered employees,” said Paul Gosselin.
“The court, after ruling on this gray area, concluded that the positions in question did not indeed fall under the status of manager and were, therefore, employee positions. As soon as this decision was made, the Granby Zoo immediately complied by removing these employees concerned from field work normally carried out by a unionized employee,” he added.
The union side did not wish to comment on the comments of the management of the Granby Zoo.
The next negotiation meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 21.
