In the spring of this year, the IATSE was approached by employees of the Salle Jean-Grimaldi, an 888-seat venue in downtown Montréal. On March 27, 2003, Local 56 filed an application for certification with the Quebec Labour Relations Board.
While awaiting that decision, the local subsequently filed two more applications for certification. The first application was to represent stagehands at the Maison des Arts de Laval, which seats 354 and is located along the north shore of Montréal. The second concerned the stagehands at the Salle André-Mathieu. This very active, 834-seat venue staged 163 productions in 2002 and is also located in Laval, along Montréal’s north shore.
Local 56 recently received favourable decisions from the Quebec Labour Relations Board on all of its applications and will be commencing collective bargaining in the near future.