Strike closes Montreal Biodme, Insectarium

Montreal civicworkers rallied outside the Biodme and Insectarium attractions on Friday morning on the first day of their strike protesting what they call a stalemate in contract talks with the city.

"We've been three years without a contract and we need to get something moving," said Marc Ranger, chief negotiator for Local 301 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees. The last collective agreement expired on Aug. 31, 2007.

Thestrike will close both facilities indefinitely although animals, insects and plantshoused inside will continue to be cared for as usual, as required under Quebec's essential-services laws.

The union and city administration previously agreedthat both facilities would be closed automatically in case of a strike.

The city employees, also known as "blue collars," are lobbying for a raise and want to curbsubcontracting to private companies, which the union says costs Montreal about 30 per cent more than city employees.

Executive committee member Alan DeSousa urged the union to move ahead with negotiations, saying workers are holding young Montrealers hostage.

"At the end of the day, the city is there, the city is willing, the city has to sit down and will sit down" with the union, he saidThursday. "So let's get on with it."

The Biodme welcomes more than 800,000 visitors a year, many of them school groups. More than 300,000 people visit the Insectarium every year.

Union negotiators and city representatives are expected to meet again on April 6.

Civicemployeesjust finished a 40-day rolling strike that targeted individual borough services, except for garbage collection and street cleaning, which continued as scheduled.

Essential services include:

• Garbage and recycling pickup.
• Emergency repairs for water main leaks, sewer blockage or any otherstructural problems in the water system.
• Repairs or replacing broken traffic and street lights.
• Street cleaning after an accident.
• Repairing major holes in the street.
• Maintaining water levels on the Rivire-des-Prairies and Two-Mountains Lake whenthere is a risk of flooding.
• Maintaining trees on public property.
• Snow-removal and sidewalk cleaning after snowfall.