Montreal to suspend street cleaning parking restrictions April 15 to 17
Montrealers won’t have to move their cars for street cleaning for three days this month, as the city of Montreal suspends certain parking bans during a strike by blue-collar workers.
Parking restrictions related to cleaning (which usually forbid parking for a few hours once a week from April to November) will be suspended on April 15, 16 and 17, the city said in a statement Monday.
Other parking rules will remain in force, however. That includes parking meters, time-related parking restrictions, bans on parking in reserved lanes and areas where only residents are allowed to park, the city said.
Blue-collar workers will be on strike from 6 a.m. on April 15 to 6 a.m. on April 18.
However, members of the Syndicat des cols bleus regroupés de Montréal will be required to carry out certain essential services.
That includes responding to urgent situations, including those where the health and safety of the public could be endangered, repairing traffic lights and signals damaged by collisions, operations related to water supply and operations related to rising water levels in areas prone to flooding.
This is the second time the blue-collar workers have gone on strike this year, after a 24-hour strike in February.
The union says the pay increase being offered by the city, 11 per cent over five years, is not enough given the rising cost of living.
The city said it hopes to reach a negotiated settlement and has met the union for 35 negotiation sessions, as well as 15 mediation sessions.
Last week, the province’s labour tribunal ordered union members to stop using certain pressure tactics.
Workers had been refusing to take on certain leadership roles and, in some cases, refusing to take directions from substitute foremen, instead saying they would only take instructions from permanent foremen or managers.
The Tribunal administratif du travail, ruling on an urgent request for from the city, found those to be illegal because they paralyzed operations during certain shifts, denying the public services that they’re entitled to receive.
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