Montreal cardinal calls for end to cemetery labor dispute

Published: 2007-08-08

OTTAWA (CNS) -- Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte of Montreal has called for an end to a 12-week labor dispute at Canada's largest cemetery. The dispute at Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery in Montreal has left about 500 bodies unburied, and the grounds on Mount Royal's western slope have not been maintained. Bodies have been stacked in coffins inside the cemetery's refrigerated vault, but dozens more arrive each week. The cemetery manager has said he has enough room to store additional bodies until October. Following an Aug. 6 meeting with a group representing families of the deceased, Cardinal Turcotte told a news conference that the families' situation was intolerable and that it was necessary to end the dispute as soon as possible. In a statement issued following the meeting, Cardinal Turcotte insisted that the legal entity which runs the cemetery end its lockout, that the union end its strike, and that both parties speed up negotiations, using all their resources under the law to find a settlement. A provincial conciliator was appointed July 16, and bargaining sessions continue.

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