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Pedneault said a union boss had a stern warning for him to send his own employees home and hire local workers referred to him by the union.

Pedneault, who owns Paul Pedneault Inc., a Saguenay-based company, said he was told the alternative was a “storm” on the site a day later.

“If you do not change anything, it’s going to snow, the storm will pass,” Pedneault testified.

He warned his brothers and the police, but the storm came as advertised.

Pedneault testified he was in another part of the province when he learned the site had been shut down and his brothers Benoit and Daniel, who were overseeing it, had been roughed up and threatened.

Pedneault said his brother described the attackers as beefy men — one of them was apparently a 300-pound brute. They threatened the brother’s families as well. Some were drunk.

“They (my brothers) are men, construction workers, fathers,” said Pedneault. “They are accustomed to living a rough life. They are not wimps. But they’d been given a rough ride.”

The collective agreements change east of Baie-Comeau. There are rules that are spoken, but not written down

Many of his own workers had barricaded themselves inside a trailer. At least one simply fled, never to return.

On the day of the alleged attack, one provincial police officer showed up several hours after the incident. Statements were taken, but no charges were ever laid.

The entire incident lasted 10 minutes, but had a profound effect. Pedneault said his brothers had been broken and that they still carry the emotional scars. Pedneault said his brothers were so traumatized they didn’t want to show their bruises a day later.