It is with deep sadness that the CSN learned this morning of the death of Marc Laviolette, former president of the CSN. The members of the CSN executive committee would like to express their most sincere condolences to his family, in particular to his son Alexandre Boileau-Laviolette, current president of the Fédération du commerce (FC-CSN), to his loved ones, as well as to all the activists who worked alongside him throughout his rich union career.
“Today is a great day of mourning for the entire union movement,” said CSN President Caroline Senneville. “Marc Laviolette’s commitment to the working class, and more specifically to health and safety issues in the workplace, must be highlighted. His outspokenness and his proximity to workers across Quebec made him an exemplary union activist, always ready to defend the rights of the most vulnerable. The flag at our head office in Montreal will be flown at half-mast to honour his memory and his time among us.”
Union journey
Originally from Suroît, Marc Laviolette began his union career 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 factory in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield in 1978, then president of the National Chemical Products Union of Valleyfield (SNPCV–CSN), from 1986 to 1994.
During the same years, Marc Laviolette was also vice-president of the Fédération de la métallurgie de la CSN. From 1994 to 1999, he served as third vice-president of the Confédération, before succeeding Gérald Larose as president of the CSN in 1999, a role he held until 2002.
Occupational health and safety
Throughout his union career, occupational health and safety issues have always been at the heart of Marc Laviolette’s commitment and union action. It was the many battles waged by his local union that led Judge René Beaudry, in 1983, then president of the Commission of Inquiry into the Health and Safety Conditions of the Establishments of the Expro Chemical Products Company in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, to recognize the essential contribution of workers in the organization of work and the management of OHS issues. In his report, the judge took up 80% of the demands initially formulated by the local union.
Sovereignist commitment
Alongside his union activism, Marc Laviolette was also an ardent defender of the Quebec independence project, notably by getting involved in the Parti Québécois and participating in the creation of the movement of Syndicalists and Progressives for a Free Quebec (SPQ Libre).
