Strike avoided - Agreement in principle with the three CSN unions
representing the Montreal facility

MONTREAL, July 6, 2010 /CNW Telbec/ - An agreement in principle has been reached with each of the three CSN unions representing the Montréal facility and Héma-Québec, avoiding the strike that had been planned for today and tomorrow.

Héma-Québec management is pleased with this outcome, which took place last evening at the end of an intense bargaining session. The agreements will be recommended at general meetings to be held by each of the unions on July 17, July 18 and July 25.

"We are delighted with this settlement with the three CSN unions representing the Montréal facility. We hope that the members of the three bargaining units will ratify the agreement in principle, as recommended by their respective executives," explained Manon Pepin, Vice-President, Public Affairs and Marketing.

It should be noted that these three agreements follow on the heels of those signed in recent weeks with the office employees represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Local 3807, the nurses who are represented by the Syndicat du personnel infirmier d'Héma-Québec (SPI-CSQ), which is affiliated with the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) and the Fédération de la santé du Québec (FSQ-CSQ), as well as the union (CSN) representing the nurses at the Québec facility.

Héma-Québec would like to take this opportunity to remind blood donors that they are expected at the blood drive sites despite the heat wave that is affecting all of Québec: no fewer than 1000 donations are needed each day to meet the needs of hospitals.

About Héma-Québec

Héma-Québec aims to efficiently provide adequate quantities of safe, optimal blood components, substitutes, human tissues and cord blood to meet all Quebecers' needs; provide and develop expertise along with specialized and innovative services and products in the fields of transfusion medicine and human tissue transplantation.

Héma-Québec counts 1,300 employees, some 2,000 blood drives and more than 300,000 blood donors every year, 16,000 partner volunteers and more than 485,000 blood products annually delivered to hospitals in Quebec to fulfill patients' needs.

Give blood. Give life.

For further information: Manon Pepin, Vice-President, Public Affairs and Marketing, 514-832-0871, [email protected]; Source: Laurent Paul Ménard, Director - External Communications