MONTREAL — More than one thousand public sector workers took to the streets Thursday protesting bill 3.
The unionized employees, most of them working for the city of Montreal, are demanding the government kill the proposed legislation or dramatically amend it.
The bill will force workers to share a 50-50 percent contribution with the government into their retirement account.
Right now, unionized employees contribute 30 percent into their pension plans, tax payers cover the 70 percent balance.
“Do you think that the taxes will go down because we lose working conditions? This is bulls**t. This is not true,” Marc Ranger, the public sector union leader said.
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READ MORE: Unions storm Montreal city hall in pension protest
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The protesters include workers from the blue collar and white collar sectors, police officers, fire fighters and others.
All of them are showing strong solidarity against the bill.
READ MORE: Opinion: Quebec cannot afford its public sector pension plans
But as they marched through the streets, many Montrealers watched in disagreement.
“That sounds what is usually done in the private sector,” one Montrealer said stating a 50-50 sharing plan is more equitable.
The union brass promises to step up their pressure tactics.
That has some worried.
“Maybe it’s going to get worse. Maybe they’re going to riot,” one Montrealer said.
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