The Westmount blue-collar workers will begin an unlimited strike at one minute past midnight on Wednesday night.

These union members had already walked off the job for two days, then three days, then a week earlier. Last November, they adopted a pressure tactics mandate that could go as far as an indefinite strike.

The Syndicat des cols bleus regroupés de Montréal, which counts the 124 Westmount blue-collar workers among its members, said the main points in dispute were wages and working hours.

Jean-Pierre Lauzon, president of the local branch of the FTQ-affiliated Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), says they've "reached this point because the mayor refuses to give a real push to end these negotiations".

The collective agreement expires on December 31, 2019.

"The citizens of Westmount need to know that if we don't pay these workers properly, services will be bailed out and we'll definitely lose manpower," added the union leader.

"We're talking about impoverishing employees. The City tells us it's in good financial health, so why not share a little with the men and women who proudly serve the City of Westmount?" he added.

SERVICES AFFECTED

Westmount Mayor Christina M. Smith says that "unfortunately, this work stoppage will have an impact on certain services offered by the City.'

As essential services will have to be maintained, garbage, recycling and compost collection services "should go ahead as planned," and the Leisure Centre pool will remain open, the mayor said.

She denied having allowed the negotiations to drag on. "The City has remained totally open and available for negotiations. We made contact with the union well before the collective agreement expired."

She refuted the union's arguments about the salary delay. "In comparing our workers' salaries with those of other municipalities, the union omits to say that it is comparing the City of Westmount's 2019 salaries with the new salaries of other municipalities that have adopted their collective agreements after 2020. The wage gap is mainly due to the protracted negotiations with the union over the past three years. Our intention is not to maintain below-average wages, but to obtain a fair agreement that restores parity with blue-collar wages in the metropolitan region."

This report was first published by The Canadian Press on June 21, 2023.