The Globe and Mail Report on Business March 6, 1997
TEAMSTERS TAKING ANOTHER RUN AT A MCDONALD'S
OUTLET
By Konrad Yakabuski, Quebec Bureau
Employees at a McDonald's restaurant near Montreal hope to succeed
where their forerunners twice failed by asking Quebec's Ministry of Labour
to recognize their union.
If successful, the 62 workers at the fast-food franchise in St-Hubert, Que.,
will become the first McDonald's employees in North America to unionize.
Two previous union drives--in 1993 and 1994--failed to win support from a
majority of employees at McDonald's outlets in Longueuil, Que., and
Orangeville, Ont.
Toronto-based McDonald's Restaurants of Canada Ltd. and its franchisees
have vigorously resisted unionization. During previous attempts to
organize, militant workers charged that their hours were cut to make way
for more docile employees.
The employer has also stalled unionization on technical grounds, objecting,
for example, to the size of the bargaining unit.
But local 973 of the Teamsters Union, which is seeking certification on
behalf of the St-Hubert restaurant workers, is confident of victory this time
and expects to organize employees at least a dozen more McDonald's
outlets in the region within weeks.
Fifty-one of the 62 workers--or 82 per cent of the St-Hubert restaurant's
work force--signed the request for union certification, Teamsters officials
said at a press conference in Montreal yesterday.
That compares with only 53 per cent of the workers who sought
certification with an affiliate of the Quebec Federation of Labour in 1993 at
the Longueuil outlet. By the time Quebec's Labour Ministry ordered a vote
on the request, however, support among employees had dropped to barely
40 per cent.
"The difference this time around is that we made sure we had a solid
majority from the start," said Louis Fournier, a spokesman for the labour
federation to which the Quebec Teamsters belong. "So, we're confident that
it will go through this time."
Mr. Fournier added that employee turnover at the Longueuil outlet, which
is on Montreal's South Shore, was very high, because the majority of its
workers were students. Many of those behind the union drive had left
before the matter was put to a formal vote, he said.
The same problem is unlikely to arise at the St-Hubert outlet. The average
age of its employees is more than 30 and the majority of them work full-
time.
The Teamsters began a new union drive on Montreal's South Shore last fall
when it became clear that most of the grievances that prompted the
Longueuil employees to seek certification had gone unaddressed at other
McDonald's outlets.
They include low wages and a failure by employers to compensate workers
for overtime. Many workers said they are required to arrive up to 30
minutes before the beginning of their shift--without pay--to prepare
machines and other equipment.
One 30-year-old St-Hubert employee, Martin Tremblay, told reporters that
after six years at the outlet he still only makes $6.90 an hour, or 20 cents
more than Quebec's minimum wage of $6.70.
McDonald's Quebec head office yesterday referred calls to a Montreal
public relations firm. Late yesterday, the firm issued a brief but nebulous
statement on behalf of the owners of the St-Hubert franchise, brothers Tom
and Mike Cappelli.
"The case of our restaurant is an isolated case," the statement said. "As
local businessmen and members of the McDonald's franchisee community,
we will continue to maintain an open-door policy with our employees in
order to guarantee good communication."
The St-Hubert employees' application for certification is now in the hands
of the Quebec's Commissaire general du travail. The body, which is within
the Labour Ministry, can choose to automatically certify the union if it has
proof that support for certification is widespread, or request a formal vote
by all employees.
Mr. Fournier said he could not estimate how long it would take for the
Labour Ministry to rule on the application. "That will depend on the
objections McDonald's tries to raise," he said. "Corporate lawyers always
have many resources at their disposal to stall the process."
The Quebec Federation of Labour already represents workers at several
fast-food restaurants in the province, including outlets belonging to
Harvey's, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Tim Horton's.
