Services will be interrupted in the City of Westmount starting on June 22 due to an unlimited general strike by Westmount blue-collar workers. Workers will only be providing essential services, instead of all the services that citizens expect.
“The City is telling us it’s in good financial shape, but they don’t want to provide the wage hikes offered during the last two negotiations. Our demands aren’t absurd. We want what we managed to get during the previous 14 negotiations,” explained Jean-Pierre Lauzon, President of the union representing Montreal’s amalgamated blue-collar workers (CUPE 301).
The members voted in favour of a mandate calling for pressure tactics up to and including an unlimited strike last November 22. Several short strikes have already taken place.
“We’ve gotten to this point, because the mayor is refusing to give one final big push to wrap up these negotiations. The citizens of Westmount must realize that if these workers aren’t paid suitable wages, services will suffer, and we’ll definitely end up losing workers,” said Lauzon.
The blue-collar workers’ last collective agreement expired on December 31, 2019.