LAC-MEGANTIC, Que. – The company involved in the deadly Quebec train derailment has laid off one-quarter of its workforce in the province, citing the disaster’s impact on the business.
Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway has laid off 19 of its 75 workers in Quebec, said the provincial branch of the United Steelworkers Union on Wednesday.
The laid-off employees, 17 workers and two managers, received their notices the previous afternoon.
Quebec director Daniel Roy said Wednesday his members are worried – and furious.
“They are currently left on their own in this situation,” he said in an interview.
“The anger is at its maximum with this company.”
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The union representative denounced what he called the company’s cavalier attitude and said MMA has been completely uncommunicative since the July 6 disaster.
“Our members tell us that the company has never met with them,” he said. “There’s been no channel of communication to help them and to answer their needs.”
He said MMA is already operating with a minimum number of workers. Members fear that safety will only diminish now, he said.
Roy said the company has laid off employees who are involved in inspection and maintenance.
“We see a company that’s operating at a minimum … to make money,” he said. “They’re applying the minimum of rules – with the authorization of Transport Canada.”
Roy said the layoffs touch workers on MMA lines that are still operating – not just the Lac-Megantic route.
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On its website, MMA says it owns 820 kilometres of track in Maine, Vermont and Quebec and employs approximately 170 people.
A company official said the layoffs are temporary. She said the move is prompted only by the current paralysis of the Lac-Megantic line.
When contacted by phone in Chicago, the MMA employee said chairman Edward Burkhardt has already warned of layoffs in both Farnham, Que., and in Maine.
“This is because of the track break at Lac-Megantic and they intend to rehire the employees when the line is re-opened,” said the woman, who works in Eckhardt’s office and requested anonymity.
But the union says that’s not its understanding.
It says it’s heard nothing of the sort from the company, with no indication the layoffs are temporary. It also says most of those laid off had worked on other lines.
The company has been a target of local wrath in the tragedy aftermath.
News reports have quoted anonymous employees saying they’ve been threatened and accosted, while some have quoted ex-employees lamenting the company’s tight-fisted ways.
Watch the video below: Lac-Megantic disaster zone (July 16)
Local resident Gaston Dupuis said he’d also heard residents were throwing rocks at MMA trains as they went by.
He laughed when asked if people were upset with the company.
“What do you think?” he said.
“Everyone is angry,” said Dupuis, who was returning bottles at a depot near the track, steps from the blast site.
“It’s a massive screw-up.”
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Meantime, the new federal transport minister will visit Lac-Megantic this afternoon to get a first-hand look at the devastated community.
Lisa Raitt and local MP Christian Paradis will also speak to reporters.
A train carrying crude oil derailed in Lac-Megantic and exploded, triggering a massive blaze that engulfed much of the downtown core.
Search crews have found the remains of 38 people, with another 12 missing and presumed dead.
Raitt will no doubt face tough questions about moving the railway tracks out of town.
Elected officials from Lac-Megantic and surrounding communities expressed their concern on Tuesday at having rail tracks running through their towns.
Many locals also have voiced questions about federal train regulations, and about what role the federal government might play in reconstruction.
-With files from Benjamin Shingler
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