Sherbrooke University striking support staff holds funeral march as negotiations hit wall

September 18, 2011

Striking support staff at the Université de Sherbrooke holds signs depicting a caricature of university rector Luce Samoisette riding on a piggy bank at a “funeral march” held last Friday. The staff marched from school grounds to Parc Jacques-Cartier where they held a ceremony denouncing the standstill of negotiations with the university. Photo by Evan LePage

New Orleans would have been proud of the Université de Sherbrooke union of support staff (SEESUS) which held an authentic funeral march, complete with five-piece band, costumes and men in drag, last Friday to protest what they see as a dead end in negotiations with their employer.
The march, dubbed by the union as “Opération Samoisette” after university rector Luce Samoisette, drew a crowd of approximately 800. Wearing almost all black and carrying signs depicting a caricature of Samoisette riding a piggy bank, the group marched for the strike area beside the university to Parc Jacques-Cartier where they held a mock funeral, coffin and all.
The day of the march, SEESUS president Stéphane Caron also posted an open letter to Samoisette titled “SEESUS is not fooled,” in which he criticized statements the rector has made concerning the ongoing negotiations, and the university’s desire to resolve the conflict.

Plaese see Monday's Record for the complete story.