Deal reached in Montreal cemetery workers’ standoff that has left 300 bodies unburied

MONTREAL – The union representing striking maintenance workers at one of the country’s biggest cemeteries says a deal has been reached with their employer.

The Confédération des syndicats nationaux confirmed that its members will be back on the job at Montreal’s Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery on Monday after they voted 83 per cent in favour of a new agreement.

Gates at the cemetery have been closed since mid-January, leaving bereaved families unable to visit and sometimes resort to sneaking through the fence.

The cemetery has said the impasse has left more than 300 bodies unburied, with corpses stored at freezing temperatures in an on-site repository.

The cemetery says in a news release that it is satisfied with the new collective agreement, which expires in December 2027 and was reached with the help of a mediator from the province’s Labour Department.

It says returning workers will focus on cleaning up the grounds so the site can reopen, adding that families of deceased people will be contacted so that they can begin organizing burials.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 13, 2023.