Montreal blue-collar workers to strike Monday

Montrealers may be facing rotating walkouts by the city's 5,000 blue-collar workers as early as next Monday.

The workers, who have been without a contract for more than two years, are set to begin 40 days of job action. The strike is expected to rotate through one district at a time through March 5.

The union and the city's essential services council met Wednesday morning to determine what services will be maintained during the strike.

A ruling from the council is expected on Friday.

The two sides are at odds over salaries and sub-contracting. The workers are asking for a salary increase of 10 per cent over four years. They are also demanding the city cut back on subcontracting to private firms.

Mayor Grald Tremblay has said the union demands would cost the city $100 million.

Marc Ranger, chief negotiator for Montreal's blue-collar union, said both sides have agreed on 80 per cent of the services that will be provided during the strike. But, he said, they can't agree on the all-important snow removal.

"For the city, they want business as usual - so full services. For our part, we say if there's any kind of threat to the security, we're going to be 100 per cent there," he said Tuesday.

But, Ranger said, the blue collars won't workif there are fewer than eight centimetres of snow on the ground or no freezing rain.

But, he acknowledged that many services have been privatized so the impact will vary from borough to borough across Montreal.

"If there's collection of garbage that day in that borough where the blue collars are doing the job, [then] there won't be any collecting of garbage that day," Ranger said.

The same thing goes for road repairs, park maintenance and other municipal services that are usually carried out by the blue-collar-union workers, he said.

Each borough will be affected by two days of strikes, Ranger said, with Ville Mariethe first borough hit by the strike on Monday.

Last October, the blue collars staged a four-hour strikeand held a noisy protest outside city hall as talks with the city seemed to be at a standstill. On Aug. 31, 2009, they had walked off the job for one day to press demands for a new contract.