Cemetery faces new ordeal

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=afa7fe20-309a-47de-94f4-255aad97f8f6

Cemetery faces new ordeal
Notre Dame des Neiges conflict nears end; clearing 498-body backlog won't be easy
ALAN HUSTAK, The Gazette
Published: 17 hours ago

Burying the dead at Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery - now that there's a possible breakthrough in the labour dispute that has paralyzed Canada's largest cemetery for four months - isn't going to be easy.

The 129 unionized workers at the burial ground on the flank of Mount Royal said yesterday they are prepared to go back to work four days a week, starting Monday. The cemetery's management said last night it would consider the proposal.

The gravediggers and maintenance staff have been locked out since May 16.

The workers are members of the Syndicat des travailleurs et des travailleuses du cimetière Notre Dame des Neiges, a local of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux. They have been without a contract since Dec. 31, 2003.

Talks aimed at arriving at a new contract would continue even as the dead are being buried.

According to management, as of yesterday 498 bodies have been stored in refrigeration units since the Fabrique de la Paroisse Notre Dame de Montréal, the corporation that manages the cemetery for the Sulpician priests who own it, locked out the workers.

The cemetery is to close for the season on Nov. 1, and some families of the dead fear the sheer logistics of burying or cremating so many bodies before then will be a nightmare.

FULL story at link.