Not a 'shoe factory:' Families demand action as cemetery labour dispute drags on

A group of bereaved family members gathered before the gates of the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery in Montreal Sunday to protest its ongoing closure, the result of a contentious workers' strike.

"We are the voices for those who can't speak," one sign read, with another reading, "Respectez les familles, donne nous la dignité" (respect families, give us dignity).

The strike, which began in September 2022, has postponed in-ground burials, meaning hundreds of bodies remain in cold storage as the battle between management and the CSN union continues.

Protestor Jimmy Koliakoudakis said that knowing his mother isn't resting peacefully is "horrible."

"You can't sleep at night. You just think, 'she's in a freezer, this is not where I want her to be, or where she wanted to be,'" he told CTV News.

The cemetery is also closed to visitors -- a reality that complicates the grieving process for people like Bianca Lacirenoa.

"This is the only place we have to come to feel some sort of peace, and all we're feeling is anger and frustration," said Lacireno, whose son Alex is buried on the grounds.

"To me, his space is my space, so I feel like I can't access what belongs to me. It's very frustrating."

In a press release, protest organizers accused management, the union and the Quebec government of navigating the conflict as though the cemetery was a "shoe factory."

"The right to strike or the right to lockout is not unlimited, and these rights cannot take precedence over human dignity," reads the statement from the Association for the Defence of the Rights of the Deceased and Families of Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery.

"Our core values ​​and human dignity cannot be governed by the same rules that govern our conflicts in our factories."

Around 500 employees are currently striking. Wages are at the heart of the dispute; groundskeepers have been without a collective agreement since 2018, while office workers haven't had a contract since 2017.

A tentative agreement was reached in June but was ultimately dropped because management issued a "surprising request," the nature of which the union did not specify.

Months of striking later, the Association is calling on the provincial government to take direct action.

"You played champions with the living during the pandemic, but what do you want to do now with our dead? Where are you ? What are you doing?" the release continues, address Premier Francois Legault and Labour Ministry Jean Boulet directly.

Mourners like Michael Musacchio, whose daughter Vanessa is resting at the cemetery, said it's time for Legault himself to intervene.

"I think Mr. Legault should actually put his foot in and step up, and sit these people down, and they should come to a fair agreement for both sides," he said.

On Twitter last week, Minister Boulet said he planned to meet with cemetery management and the union this coming Monday.

The cemetery is owned by the Fabrique de la paroisse Notre-Dame de Montréal, which also oversees the Notre-Dame Basilica.  

With files from CTV News' Olivia O'Malley.