The former president of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) and ardent defender of the Quebec independence project Marc Laviolette has died.
“It is a great mourning today for the entire union movement,” declared the president of the CSN, Caroline Senneville, in a press release on Thursday.
The union activist began his career in the field in the 1970s as a community organizer and president of the CLSC de la Seigneurie de Beauharnois union, before becoming an operator at the Expro plant in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield in 1978, then president of the Syndicat national des produits chimiques de Valleyfield (SNPCV–CSN) from 1986 to 1994.
He was also vice-president of the CSN Metallurgy Federation. From 1994 to 1999, he also served as third vice-president of the Confederation, before succeeding Gérald Larose as president of the CSN in 1999, a role he held until 2002.
Committed to workers
Throughout his union career, occupational health and safety issues have always been at the heart of Marc Laviolette’s commitment, the CSN recalled in its press release.
He also participated in the recognition of the essential contribution of workers in the organization of work and in the management of OHS issues.
“Marc Laviolette’s commitment to the working class, and more particularly to health and safety issues in the workplace, must be highlighted. His outspokenness and his proximity to workers throughout Quebec have made him an exemplary union activist, always ready to defend the rights of the most vulnerable people,” continued Ms. Senneville.
Mr. Laviollette, in favour of the province’s independence, was notably involved in the Parti Québécois and participated in the creation of the movement of Syndicalists and Progressives for a Free Quebec (SPQ Libre).
The flag at the CSN headquarters in Montreal will be flown at half-mast to honour his memory.
