The manager of Montreal's Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery says he can store hundreds of additional bodies as a labour dispute continues to delay burials.

"We would like to say to the families of the deceased that the cemetery is doing everything possible to ensure the respect, tranquility and safety of human remains throughout this conflict," general manager Yoland Tremblay said in a press release Thursday.

The cemetery receives dozens of bodies each week. To maximize space, managers have been forced to stack coffins and use a refrigerated trailer.

There are currently about 300 caskets held in the trailer, and Tremblay said it has room for 400 more. That means the cemetery could continue receiving bodies until late fall.

All burials have been put on hold since May 16, when about 130 cemetery employees were locked out, prompting a strike by the union.

According to management, salaried employees currently make an average annual income of $49,000, while seasonal workers make $27,000. But the union is demanding improvements in five key areas:

  • A defined benefit pension plan, in which workers can acquire previous years of service
  • A four-day work week
  • An increase in the number of weeks available to seasonal workers from 26 to 36.
  • Greater departure allowances
  • Limiting the use of subcontracting

"We are ready to find ways to solve the situation with the union but the union has to indicate clearly that they are flexible, and that they will not maintain their five priorities as such, and as they have since March 2006," said management lawyer Guy Dufort.

Meanwhile, frustrated families who have had to delay funerals for their loved ones have launched a class-action lawsuit against the cemetery.

The lawsuit first demanded management pay half the costs specified in any funeral contracts, and $200 in damages for each day burials have been postponed.

But earlier this week, it was expanded to include anyone who owns a plot in the cemetery, because of a lack of maintenance work during the dispute.

With a report from CTV Montreal