A class-action lawsuit against a Montreal cemetery, where a labour dispute has delayed any burials for the past two months, has grown to include anyone who owns a plot.

"These people normally pay, or will pay, for maintenance, and that part is honoured by the contract," lawyer Claude Gamache told CTV Montreal on Tuesday. "And they have also been taken hostage by this labour conflict."

The lawsuit was initially launched by families upset their loved ones were being kept in storage while the dispute dragged on.

However, broadening its scope could increase the number of potential plaintiffs from about 400 to tens of thousands.

Henry Timkov visits Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery every week, tending to the graves of his parents.

"Just to make sure it's neat, and to tidy up all the flowers," he said.

But since the dispute began on May 16, when about 130 cemetery employees were locked out, the grass has grown wild and Timkov has had to spend more time pulling up weeds.

"It's unfortunate," he said, but he also defended the workers' right to demand a better contract.

"Why shouldn't they be able to strike for money just because it happens to be a cemetery? I have to come up here and do it myself, but I don't mind. I can handle it."

Management says the union's demands include a minimum 36-week employment period for seasonal workers and the acquisition of years of prior service, which would cost the cemetery $15 million.

The two sides haven't met since negotiations broke down on May 8.

Workers staged a demonstration on Tuesday, asking that Montreal's Archbishop Jean-Claude Cardinal Turcotte help mediate the dispute.

Turcotte said last week that while he's worried about strike's effects, he shouldn't get involved because it's a labour problem.

Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery receives roughly 50 bodies each week. To maximize space, managers have been forced to stack coffins and use a refrigerated trailer.

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

With a report by CTV Montreal's Paul Karwatsky