Thousands of municipal employees from across the province met in Montreal Tuesday to warn that any new plan to deal with their pension deficit will have to be reached through negotiation rather than imposed settlement.
A group calling itself the Coalition for Free Trade Union Negotiations, which claims to represent about 55,000 members, accused the Union of Quebec Municipalities (UMQ) of sowing alarm by warning of a pension deficit of over $5 billion.
Group spokesman Marc Ranger said that the total deficit is, in fact, currently less than $4 billion.
Ranger also attacked the UMQ for refusing to negotiate with unions. He said the municipal brass are awaiting a bill that would give them the tools needed to impose a new settlement.
The new deal would be expected to be based on a 50-50 split between the sides, which would represent a step back from the current situation for the union members.
Ranger said that the agreement between Montreal and its blue collar workers in 2012 demonstrates that negotiation can lead to good results.
Montreal is said to have a $2.1 billion pension deficit, which costs $600 million per year, or 12 percent of the entire city budget. That comes out to about $300 per year per home. Ranger said that such estimates have been overblown.
“They know that with the new numbers the situation is less serious than they’re saying,” he told CTV Montreal Tuesday.
-With a file from The Canadian Press
