Montreal blue collars launch one-day strike

About 5,000 Montreal blue collar workers walked off the job at midnightto begin a one-day strikeas they press for a new contract.

'We don't have any intent to go on a general strike. Absolutely not. It would go against what we say, that we want the best services for Montrealers.' Marc Ranger, chief union negotiator

The strike will affect recycling pickup the boroughsof Ahuntsic-Cartierville, the Plateau Mont-Royal, the Sud-Ouest and Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension. Garbage will be picked up in most boroughs because the work is outsourced to private contractors.

Blue collar workers will also maintain essential services including emergency road maintenance and water works.

The union says it doesn't want to take Montrealers hostage but is running out of tactics to pressure the city into a new contract.

"Nothing is moving at the bargaining table," said Marc Ranger, chief negotiator for the blue collar union. "We had to get something moving."

"We don't have any intent to go on a general strike. Absolutely not. It would go against what we say, that we want the best services for Montrealers."

"We want people to know what's going on," union president Michel Parent told Montreal newspaper La Presse. "If we didn't care about the population, we would have had a strike in the winter."

The workers haven't had a contract in two years. They're asking for athree per cent salary increase. The city, which is battling a deficit,froze municipal wages in 2007 and committed to atwo per cent increase for the following three years.