Violent work vibe found at STM garage
A CNESST report found a febrile atmosphere of violence reigns at the STM’s massive Legendre bus garage, located along St‑Laurent north of the Met. Management fears to intervene in the dominance of a hard core of tough guys, and nobody has found a way to cope with this problem.
DeWolf 11:21 on 2024-07-06 Permalink
// Les causes du climat toxique demeurent floues à la lecture du rapport, mais employeur et syndicat s’entendent pour montrer du doigt un « noyau dur » de responsables. « Des travailleurs se détestent tellement qu’ils ne peuvent s’endurer », décrit le rapport.
« Les discussions dans différentes langues peuvent avoir pour effet qu’une personne qui ne comprend pas ce qui est dit se sente exclue », mentionnait un rapport précédent de la CNESST. « C’est un problème récurrent à travers tout le réseau de la STM. » //
This sounds like the trouble the city has had with some blue collar workers who can’t handle the fact that some of their colleagues speak Creole to one another.
Kate 12:26 on 2024-07-06 Permalink
Indeed it does.
Would the new language law mandate that people have to speak French on the job?
Ian 23:01 on 2024-07-06 Permalink
Even then, not exclusively…
Kate 08:54 on 2024-07-07 Permalink
I’m not sure you can legislate the language spoken among coworkers in a workplace, but you can give it a damn good try.
Uatu 10:00 on 2024-07-07 Permalink
This is a great opportunity for these guys to learn Creole and jouale from each other. I work at the Vic and over the years have learned how to insult and swear at people in French, Greek, Portuguese, Italian, Tagalog, Chinese and Spanish from my coworkers. It’s a lot of fun lol.
Ian 18:09 on 2024-07-07 Permalink
Absolutely, teaching each other to swear is one of the classic bonding experiences!
Kate 10:24 on 2024-07-08 Permalink
Except in the case of the STM it doesn’t seem to be working that way. Once you sow paranoia that when others are speaking their own language they’re doing it as an attack on you (even if all they’re talking about is their lunch or their kids or matters to do with the job itself) then the whole situation can snowball into hostile encampments.
I remember a similar story that happened among nurses in a CHSLD, for example – the Haitian nurses being told not to speak Creole among themselves.
Daisy 12:27 on 2024-07-08 Permalink
While working at a well-known local anglophone institution, I noticed that some of my coworkers lacked confidence speaking French and wanted more opportunities to practice, so I sent an email to a staff listserv inviting anyone interested in join me at one of the tables in the lunch room to speak French together on our lunch break on Thursdays. This resulted in me getting hauled into my supervisor’s office and interrogated as to my intention in a very hostile manner. (The supervisor herself was francophone but I think she was following orders from above.) She told me that there were continuing education classes for those who wanted to improve their French skills, so why would I do this? This was on our own free time (unpaid lunch breaks), and anyway I thought I was more deserving of praise for my initiative than reprimand for overstepping. You would have thought I was trying to set up a spy ring or something!