MORE than 60 Montreal municipal employees will be tried together on charges related to a 2014 protest that saw hundreds of union members storm City Hall.
Some 54 firefighters and 11 blue collar workers are accused of unlawful assembly and mischief for allegedly taking part in the August 18, 2014, demonstration against proposed pension plan reform.
After breaking past a security cordon, the protesters allegedly forced their way into a city council meeting, scattering papers and posting stickers throughout City Hall. Some tried to break into the mayor’s office.
Daniel Rock, lawyer representing the firefighters estimated they could have to miss up to 10 weeks of work for the trial, which is scheduled for April 2018. Rock said: ‘It’s completely unproductive. Imagine, we’ll empty the fire stations of firefighters. They’ll have to replace them with others, who will work overtime.’
The pension dispute between the city and its unionised workers remains unresolved. Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre said on Friday he could not comment on the decision to hold a megatrial for the 65 firefighters and blue collar workers charged for taking part in a protest at City Hall, because the legal world and the political are two separate jurisdictions.
But he reiterated he had long warned there would be consequences for the events of that day. Coderre said: ‘They ransacked City Hall. ‘They stained the house of democracy of the citizens of Montreal. And we will not let that go. Afterwards we collected proof, and the prosecutors’ office said we will have a trial. We will let that kind of thing happen. But we must not downplay the events that happened here on August 18, 2014.’
Afterwards, 54 firefighters and 11 blue collar workers were charged with mischief and illegal assembly. Six firefighters were fired by the city and 57 municipal workers suspended without pay. Those charged will be tried at a megatrial to be held at the Gouin Courthouse, normally home to trials for members of organised crime, the Journal de Montréal reported on Friday.
The trial will only take place in April 2018 and is expected to last three months, with 78 witnesses and dozens of videos to be presented. Lawyers for the defence said a megatrial was a questionable forum given the relatively minor gravity of the crimes.
Meanwhile, the bargaining committee for Local 416 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents Toronto’s outside workers, announced last Friday that it has reached a tentative agreement on a new contract with the City of Toronto.
The contract is subject to ratification by the local’s 5,400 members. ‘This was a very difficult round of bargaining,’ said Matt Alloway, Local 416 bargaining committee member and spokesperson.
‘I want to commend all the members of our bargaining committee for their dedication and hard work throughout this process. We will be putting this tentative agreement before our membership in the days ahead and recommending its ratification. Until then, we will not be making comment on or providing details of this deal.’
Negotiations between the City of Toronto and CUPE Local 79, the union representing more than 20,000 of the city’s inside workers, were been extended and the union said on Saturday it wouldn’t walk out until 12:01am Monday at the earliest.
CUPE Local 79 president Tim McGuire told media on Saturday that the discussions were continuing between the city and the union, but he was unable to comment on the level of progress.
McGuire said that the union ‘would like to see the city meet us halfway’. Speaking outside of the union negotiating room at the Sheraton Hotel, McGuire said: ‘The city and local 79 have agreed to a 24-extension. We’re deep into the process to find a settlement.’
Local 79 represents 23,100 employees including child care and shelter workers, nurses, cleaners and planners. Among the issues up for discussion are job stability, including more notice of shift schedules, guaranteed minimum hours and some workers getting full-time permanent status.
McGuire said negotiations went deep into the night on Friday night, and after a period of rest, they were back at it in the morning. In the case of a work stoppage, the effects would not be felt until Monday, when city-run daycares would close, along with community centres, rinks and pools. But on Saturday, Maguire said the aim was to find a settlement.
He said that both parties were interested in working together to find a deal. The two parties resumed the negotiations on Saturday morning after taking a break on Friday night, when Local 79’s original strike deadline – 12:01 a.m. Saturday – was first pushed back one day, to Sunday.
Toronto Mayor John Tory told reporters at issue for the city are benefits, which he said need to be adjusted to be more affordable as the city’s workforce ages. Tory said: ‘The city cannot give in to demands for more money and make no adjustments to extremely generous benefit packages.
‘Toronto is struggling with the problem of an aging population and benefit costs are skyrocketing. The drug benefit plan went up by 12 per cent last year and it’s growing by an average of four per cent a year. We must do something to contain the cost.’
Maguire maintained that the union is willing to work with the city on benefits and other issues, but said that the union has already taken some of its demands off the table. He rejected the suggestion that union members help finance the $22 million in unallocated cuts just approved on February 17 as a part of the 2016 budget with reduced benefit packages.
The CUPE 79 president said: ‘Toronto finds itself in a financial situation because it approved $22 million in costs that aren’t yet funded. Our members shouldn’t be required to take money out of their pockets to pay for that.’
• Last Friday, a coalition of 13 associations of retirees held its founding meeting in Montreal. The Coalition citoyenne pour mieux vivre et vieillir (Citizen coalition for better living and aging) adopted its statutes and elected an executive to legalise its status.
Participants provided an update on previous actions of the coalition and laid the groundwork for those to come. At a press conference last Monday, the main representatives of the coalition reported on its renewed efforts to ensure a decent retirement for all.
Regarding the file on improving public pension plans, they noted that 2016 will be a crucial year for the seniors of today and tomorrow. The federal government will organise, or follow, a broad consultation of the provinces on the public pension system, which the Liberals promised to improve during the recent election campaign.
Spokesperson for the Citizen coalition, Jean Carette said: ‘An initial meeting of Finance Ministers has already revealed the usual resistance of Minister Leitão of Quebec and some of his counterparts in other provinces. What they decided was not to decide anything and to take up the subject again in a year’s time.
‘This means that we need to exert pressure with our arguments and our interventions to compel the federal government to step in and keep its promises and meet the minimum demands of all the seniors’ groups: first and foremost, improvement of the QPP to bring tens of thousands of seniors out of their present or foreseeable poverty.
‘The Trudeau team won’t move on this unless they see that public opinion is strong, united and resolute. Let’s not forget: a decent retirement is not a privilege. It is the immediate and future right of every person.’
