Montréal, Wednesday, August 20, 2014 – High spirits and the sound of whistles prevailed as members of the Coalition syndicale pour la libre négociation [Union Coalition for Free Negotiation] collected this morning outside premier Philippe Couillard’s Montréal office. More than 1,000 current and future retirees were there to demonstrate against Bill 3 and the consequences of that legislation on their quality of life in retirement.
Former union leaders with the Coalition took turns stepping up to speak, including Louis Larivière, president of the Regroupement des syndicalistes à la retraite, and François Teasdale, president of Réseau Espaces 50+, both Coalition representatives, as well as Michel Bouliane, president of the CUPE 429 retirees, and Jacques Beaudoin, former head of the union of STM-CSN maintenance workers, who stated, “The government is going back on its word with Bill 3. It is breaking signed contracts. This is unacceptable, and we are not going to start renegotiating what we have already earned!”
Jean Lapierre, former president of the Montréal blue-collar workers’ union, addressed the government directly as he condemned Bill 3, saying, “We are not going to let you start chipping away at the bottom until you bring down everything it took decades of struggle to achieve so that future generations can get some share of what they deserve!” He added, “We will not let them start pushing us backwards into an era when the working class was living in poverty, as has been said, while the chasm between the rich and the rest of us continues to widen.”
Gaston Fauvel, former president of the Association des pompiers de Montréal, took aim at the municipalities, arguing that “over the years, we as workers have paid faithfully into our pension funds while the city didn’t contribute a penny!”
Yves Prud’homme, former president of the Fraternité des policiers de Montréal, took his opportunity to stir up the crowd by recounting in detail efforts over past decades to ensure adequate funding of pension plans. “All those millions of dollars never made it into our pension fund as promised. And where is all that money today?” he asked as participants clapped. “Funding collusion!”
The demonstration ended with a call for the general public to take part in a major march by the Coalition set to take place at noon on September 20 at Lafontaine Park. Current and future retirees are planning to come out for the event in droves along with family members. “And this is just a hint of what’s to come!” announced Jean Lapierre.
The Coalition consists of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE-Quebec) and its Municipal Sector Provincial Council as well as its ground transport sector, the Fédération des employées et employés de services publics (FEESP-CSN), the Fédération indépendante des syndicats autonomes (FISA), the Fédération des policiers et policières municipaux du Québec, the Association des pompiers de Montréal, the Regroupement des associations de pompiers du Québec and the Syndicat des pompiers et pompières du Québec – FTQ.
Information:
Sonia Marcoux, Communications, Coalition
438 832-0918
smarcoux@scfp.qc.ca