The Teamsters file a complaint against Challenger Motorfreight

The company is employing an old tactic to scare its workers and discourage them from joining the Teamsters...

LAVAL, QC, May 6 /CNW Telbec/ - Teamsters Union organizers have learned that letters were posted behind the glass of a locked billboard at the Challenger transportation company's terminal in Dorval (Québec) to impliedly threaten the workers with reprisals if they choose to join a union.

Teamsters Canada has filed a complaint with the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB). The union wants these letters removed and seeks to protect the right to organize of Challenger Motorfreight workers.

"It's an old tactic used to scare workers," explains Robert Bouvier, president of Teamsters Canada. Challenger's management is panicking and is desperately trying to discourage the workers from joining the Teamsters."

The complaint filed with the CIRB reads in part as follows: "(...) thus acting, Challenger violates paragraph 94(1) of the Canada Labour Code by threatening workers with sanctions if they take part in legitimate and legal union activities and interferes with the Teamsters' organizing campaign and administration of affairs." In the complaint filed with the federal agency, the union also upholds that "Challenger's actions also violate its employees' right to freedom of expression and their right to organize and join the Teamsters."

Teamsters Canada considers that the letters serve only to add fuel to the fire and will surely impact how Challenger workers perceive their employer.

Let us recall that the Teamsters Union is involved throughout the country in many campaigns, including those which target the workers of the Ontario-based transportation company.

The CIRB is expected to render its decision in the coming weeks.

The Teamsters Union represents 125,000 members in Canada in all trades. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, with which Teamsters Canada is affiliated, has 1.4 million members in North America.

For further information: Stéphane Lacroix, Director of Communications, Teamsters Canada, Mobile: [phone], Office: [phone], ext. 236, [email protected]; Internet: www.teamsters.ca; YouTube: www.youtube.com/teamsterschannel; Facebook: TeamstersCanada; Twitter: twitter.com/TeamstersCanada