Davie Yards protection extended to July 7

Hundreds of laid-off workers from the Davie Yards in Lvis will find out by July 7 if they'll ever get their jobs back.

Canada's largest shipyard is in negotiations for a buyer after falling under bankruptcy protection more than a year ago.

The sale has to go through before July 7 if the new owners want to bid for an estimated $35 billion in federal contracts that are available.

So a judgeWednesday extended the bankruptcy protection until July 7.

Several Davie Yards workers attended the latest court hearing to find out what their future holds.

They heard that negotiations with an Italian buyer, Fincantieri, are going well, but are far from final.

The men haven't worked at Davie for more than a year, and their employment insurance has run out.

"If they buy the company, we gonna have to wait maybe three to four months. We need to work eh. Are people discouraged? Yes," said 57-year-old Jean-Nol Parent.

Pierre Laporte is the court-appointed monitor who oversees the negotiations with potential buyers.

"Some important milestone have been met, the May 18th milestone [to get bankruptcy protection extended], but also negotiation with the unions, and getting that contract with them That was important, a key factor in moving forward. Now we need to continue the discussion around the re-capitalization of the business, financing of Davie and going forward," he said

Laporte says negotiations with Fincantieri from Italy are serious, and ifthecompanydidn't think it could reach a deal before the deadline to bid on federal contracts it wouldn't be negotiating at all.

That's little consolation for Gilles Frnette, who has worked for 38 of his 56 years at Davie.

"Everyone is worried because the negotiation process is taking so long," he said in French.

Even though he says he's been through times of uncertainty before with Davie, he's not finding it any easier as he gets older.