STRATEGIC PARTNERS
September 3, 2002
MONTREAL -- All of the approximately 100 Desjardins ATMs damaged by vandals on Aug. 28 are back in working order on Sept. 4 after crews spent the Labor Day holiday weekend repairing and replacing machines, according to a report in the Montreal Gazette.
Expanding insulation foam had been sprayed into ATMs at Desjardins credit-union branches in Montreal, Longueuil, Laval and Saint-Eustache, a Mouvement Desjardins spokesman told the Gazette.
A tally of the damage hasn't been done yet because Chapleau said the top priority was to get the ATMs operational as soon as possible.
As a precaution to help avoid further acts of vandalism, Chapleau said Desjardins will close its network of 2,800 ATMs between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. until further notice.
Meanwhile, contract talks resumed yesterday between bargaining teams for the company's armored-car division, Sécur Inc., and Local 3812 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
The nearly 900 Local 3812 members at Sécur, responsible for loading money into ATMs and maintaining them, walked off the job July 5. According to the Gazette, they are seeking pay hikes of 16 to 18 percent over the next five years; Sécur's last offer was for a 5.2 percent raise in 2002, and an additional 11 per cent to the end of 2007.
Roger Grignon, the 47-year-old man arrested and arraigned Aug. 29 on a charge of mischief over the vandalized ATMs, is not a Sécur employee.
A Sécur worker spoke to Deux-Montagnes police on Aug. 29. Neither he nor two other people sought for questioning have been arrested. (See related stories Suspects detained in Canadian ATM vandalism and ATM vandalism may be linked to Canadian labor dispute)
