The city of Montreal is trying to protect a list of services from a blue-collar workers' strike that will happen next Monday.
The city and the union appeared before the Essential Services Council on Monday for a closed-door mediation session. The session did not end with a deal, and talks were to resume on Wednesday.
The mediator will try to get the two sides to agree on which services will be maintained during the 24-hour strike.
If they cannot reach an agreement, the two sides will go to rounds of public consultations, and the strike date might be delayed.
If they do reach an agreement, the strike will go ahead as planned.
Water treatment is one of the services the city says is essential to the public.
Lagging contract talks
The union is trying to call attention to lagging contract talks - they have been without a contract for two years.
The 5,000 blue collar workers are pushing for higher salaries and less subcontracting.
