The assembly of the Quebec tramway trains, which could begin in 2025, comes at the right time to “consolidate” and create jobs at the Alstom plant in La Pocatière, estimates the CSN.
“It’s not a surprise, but it’s still good news,” said Marco Lévesque, president of the union of 230 workers, on Friday.
The latter commented on the fact that Alstom is on the right track to obtain the contract to build the tramway trains in Quebec.
“Of course it will consolidate the jobs we currently have. It is important to keep the expertise of our world. It will bring in more employees. How much? It’s hard to say. But when you have a more stable plant like that, it’s easier to hire quality staff,” added Mr. Lévesque.
“A nice story”
According to him, there is a certain logic in building the Quebec tramway in a factory located less than 1h30 from the Capitale-Nationale. “It’s our money that rolls. It’s good for the City and it’s good for the whole region,” he insisted.
Similar reasoning on the side of the mayor of La Pocatière, Vincent Bérubé. In addition to the significant economic benefits of the future contract, the latter emphasized “the feeling of pride” that drives the Pocatois.
“Even today, when people from La Pocatière go to Montreal, they say they worked on the metro with Bombardier. It will be the same thing for the Quebec tramway in 40 or 50 years. There is a great story in there and it brings a certain durability, ”he rejoiced.
From 2025
Currently, workers at La Pocatière are working on three separate contracts to carry out “sub-assemblies” of the New Jersey metro, Toronto tramway and Vancouver SkyTrain.
“We think that the assembly of the Quebec tramway trains could begin in two years. It will take the place of another contract which will end by then,” said trade unionist Marco Lévesque.
In addition to the 230 unionized workers whose collective agreement is in effect until October 2026, the La Pocatière plant has 207 white collar workers. The design and engineering of the Québec tramway must be carried out in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, in Montérégie. Assembly will take place in La Pocatière.