Montreal workers dress down to protest pension bill

Municipal workers in Montreal and across the province are adding some extra flairto their normal work clothesto show their opposition to the provincial government's pension bill.

• Quebec municipal employees stop work to protest pension bill

On Friday, Montreal bus drivers were spotted wearing everything from straw hats to beach shorts.

Police officers were among those who led the movement, tradingtheir regular slacksfor jeans and camouflage pants.Blue collar and white collar workers are expected to join in starting next week.

Around noon, firefighters and police gathered to picket outside Montreal city hall, some of them throwing their work shirts onto the building's front steps.

The union coalitionCoalitionsyndicalepour lalibrengociation brought a birthday cake to the protest, as a tongue-in-cheek reference to Mayor Denis Coderre's birthday, which was Friday.

The pressuretactics are the latest technique beingused by workers to protest Bill 3 which proposes to altermunicipal pension plans.

• Quebec aims to reform pension plans of municipal workers

According to Marc Ranger, spokesmanfor the Coalition syndicale pour la libre ngociation, the uniform changes are part of a summer-long campaign.

Were upping our pressure one notch against municipalities, without compromising the services offered to the public, Ranger said.

The bill is aimed at reforming the provinces municipal pension plans to address a close to $4 billion deficit.

If passed, the legislation would put city employees and some retirees on the hook for pension shortfalls.