Laid-off IQT workers rally again in Oshawa
Posted July 20, 2011 8:18 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The former workers of an Oshawa call centre gathered for a rally Wednesday at the city’s Memorial Park after they were abruptly laid off last week and not properly compensated.
Last Friday, U.S.-based IQT Solutions shut down its Canadian operations without warning, ordering about 1,200 employees in Oshawa and Quebec to leave immediately. They did not get their final paycheques or any severance.
More than 100 infuriated workers protested Monday in both Oshawa and Laval, Que., some saying they hadn’t been paid in a month.
What the company did not expect was to have its deal with the City of Nashville called off and $1.6 million in incentives gone.
“We are dismayed about what happened in Canada and don’t think workers anywhere should be treated that way,” city official Matt Wiltshire said a statement released Tuesday.
“We are no longer in conversations with IQT regarding locating their operations here. We spoke with the company last night, and it appears unlikely IQT will move forward with its proposed operations in Nashville.”
IQT’s website is no longer running, but there was no sign the company had filed for bankruptcy in the U.S., Quebec or Ontario.
The provinces’ governments were meeting with former workers to see what they could do to help.
Labour laws generally require employers to give two weeks’ notice of a layoff and vacation pay.
With files from The Canadian Press
