De­spite promis­es that they will be re­hired and giv­en one month's salary, CEPEP work­ers staged a protest at the com­pa­ny's head­quar­ters in Ste. Madeleine this morn­ing.

The work­ers and con­trac­tors called on gov­ern­ment to ex­e­cute a speedy au­dit and re­hire them im­me­di­ate­ly be­fore the start of the new school term.

“It’s not fair,” says Crevor­dor Piper, a for­mer CEPEP con­trac­tor. “They just want to pay us a month in lieu, and not pay work­ers, and we have to pay work­ers from that mon­ey. Are they avoid­ing pay­ing NIS?"

The work­ers and con­trac­tors called on the gov­ern­ment to clear the air and set the record straight.

"We need some clar­i­ty on when and how they’re go­ing to do it,” said Curt Nico­las, a for­mer em­ploy­ee at CEPEP. “Whether it is be­fore or af­ter the month’s sev­er­ance, or be­fore schools open.”

Po­lice of­fi­cers ar­rived while the work­ers at­tempt­ed to get an­swers from CEPEP ex­ec­u­tives.

Op­er­a­tions Man­ag­er Shiv­anand Balka­ran lat­er spoke to the work­ers and ex­pressed sym­pa­thy.