Sonia Gosselin has seen others. A heavy vehicle driver for the City of Montreal, she can easily operate graders, loaders and garbage trucks on the streets of the metropolis. All her life, she practiced non-traditional professions. However, she claims to have never experienced a more macho and toxic work climate than in the office where she failed in the spring of 2023.
Published at 5:00 a.m.
This office, it must be said, is anything but ordinary: Sonia Gosselin is vice-president of the Union of Blue Collars Regrouped in Montreal. The famous Local 301, famous for its, let’s say, muscular union culture, as well as for its vaguely Stalinist methods aimed at suppressing dissent: denunciation, intimidation, planted microphones and GPS trackers under cars…
A three-year supervision, lifted in December 2020, was to reframe the 301 and put an end, once and for all, to these methods from another era. But now, according to eight unionists interviewed as part of this investigation, the work climate is more toxic than ever at the headquarters on Avenue Papineau.
Since the election to the presidency of Jean-Pierre Lauzon in May 2023, the ostracization of comrades considered dissidents has made a comeback. To the point where unionists who experienced the Jean Lapierre era, big man of the Montreal Blue Collar Union from 1985 to 2003, have the impression of having gone back in time…
PHOTO TAKEN FROM THE FACEBOOK ACCOUNT OF THE MONTRÉAL BLUE COLLAR UNION
Jean-Pierre Lauzon, president of the Montreal Grouped Blue Collar Union
Jean-Pierre Lauzon declined to comment. A senior advisor to CUPE 301, Alexis Lamy Labrecque, told The Press that the president denied allegations of a toxic climate among blue-collar workers.
In recent months, two union members have been on sick leave due to the unhealthy climate at the offices on Avenue Papineau. This is the case of Sonia Gosselin, who died in July 2024.
She decided to put her union career on the line to denounce practices which, according to her, no longer have their place: “I got involved in the union to fight injustices, and I am experiencing what would never be tolerated in society. from our employer…”
“It didn’t work anymore”
Sonia Gosselin ran for vice-president of the Montreal Regrouped Blue Collar Union at the request of Jean-Pierre Lauzon. They campaigned together, as part of a team that promised to be more combative. “I believed in him,” admits the trade unionist. Naively, I thought I could contribute something. »
Shortly after their election, however, Jean-Pierre Lauzon asked Sonia Gosselin not to interact with certain members. Over the months, control tightened. The criticisms multiplied.
Every time Sonia Gosselin was interested in a file, she said, Jean-Pierre Lauzon lectured her: “It’s not your mandate, it doesn’t concern you, you have no business in that, you stick your nose everywhere…”
Very quickly, Sonia Gosselin found herself isolated. We limited access to his magnetic card. Her task was to be limited to remaining in her office and waiting for someone to deign to consult her. We no longer responded to his texts. At the slightest initiative, we did everything to make it fail. “I lost hair, I broke teeth from clenching my jaw,” she says. I was sad when I came back to the office and felt sick to my stomach. It didn’t work anymore. »
In August, Sonia Gosselin made an official complaint to the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), to which 301 is affiliated. In 27 pages, she exposes “the acts of harassment, discrimination, intimidation, threats, systematic exclusion, isolation and physical aggression” that she says she suffered at the hands of Jean-Pierre Lauzon. . The latter must respond to these allegations during a “union trial” which will be held from November 27.
The president of the blue-collar workers will thus appear before a disciplinary council, explains Marie-Hélène Bélanger, director of CUPE Quebec. If the council judges the complaint to be well-founded, it can impose sanctions ranging from reprimand to exclusion. According to Mme Bélanger, Jean-Pierre Lauzon “collaborates entirely in the process”.
Another source at CUPE, who requested anonymity to avoid harming this process, suggests that Sonia Gosselin’s complaint would be motivated by a “political war” led by a clan opposed to that of the president, in anticipation of the elections union meetings which will take place in 2026. The climate at 301 would be much less toxic than at the time of supervision. “This is not at all what we experienced in 2017,” assures this source.
According to this scenario, the objective of Sonia Gosselin’s camp would be to have the head of Jean-Pierre Lauzon – something which the vice-president and the other unionists interviewed as part of this investigation vehemently deny.
“No one should be treated this way”
These unionists, five men and three women, all told me that they were affected by the toxic climate that poisons the air at 301. Apart from Sonia Gosselin, they requested anonymity for fear of reprisals. “Slashing the tires of a member of the executive has been seen before. Vandalizing a member’s house has been seen before,” recalls one of them, whom we will call Laurent*.
They all say they witnessed Sonia Gosselin being sidelined. “She was denigrated, diminished, isolated. No one should be treated that way,” says Martin*.
“Jean-Pierre took her under his wing and convinced her to run. The moment he realized that she was hardworking, he started to put obstacles in her way, says Steeve*. He learned from Jean Lapierre. He applies the same methods. »
And for good reason, according to Jacques*: in the 1990s, “Jean-Pierre Lauzon was going to do Jean Lapierre’s side jobs. He has always been very close to the president. »
PHOTO TAKEN FROM A VIDEO, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Jean Lapierre was the head of the Montreal Blue Collar Union from 1985 to 2003. A bust in his likeness adorned the front yard of the building on Avenue Papineau for nearly 20 years, until its removal in 2022 .
When these remarks were reported to him, Jean Lapierre burst out laughing: “That one is good!” Nobody did jobs for me, especially not [Jean-Pierre Lauzon]. It’s incredible to say something like that, it’s really smear…”
Jean Lapierre admits that Jean-Pierre Lauzon was part of his “Unity team”, but recalls that, since that time, a lot of water has flowed under the bridges. “Jean-Pierre is so afraid of being associated with me that he stays very far away from me! »
The fact remains that Jean Lapierre exerted a strong influence on 301 long after his official departure in 2003. His combative style – no one has forgotten the doors of Montreal city hall broken down with rams during the 1993 negotiations – earned him the admiration of many blue-collar workers. A bust in his likeness, fist in the air, decorated the front courtyard of the building on Avenue Papineau for nearly 20 years, until its removal in 2022.
The statue has been torn down, but for Florence*, the influence of the mentor has never been so strong. “Jean-Pierre Lauzon’s ways of doing things, my God, it looks like Jean Lapierre’s pattern! Isolate the world to rule better. Make promises. He is already preparing his election for 2026. He is placing his pawns…”
* assumed first names
