The City of Montreal has canceled several parties Christmas presents intended for its employees for budgetary reasons, has learned The Pressto the great dismay of the unions who point the finger at spending at the top of the hierarchy.
The budgetary restrictions decided in mid-October by the Plante administration mean that office parties “will have to be organized at no cost to the City” this year, Montreal confirmed Friday in an email.
Result: cascading cancellations over the last few days. Boroughs, such as Saint-Laurent, Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie and Le Sud-Ouest, and services announced that their gatherings were canceled, according to the white-collar union.
“We spend massively on managers, but for workers, we tighten our belts and cut everything,” denounced union president Patrick Dubois. “Mme [Dominique] Ollivier spent $17,000 in four years on restoration. In addition to double bonuses [pour les cadres]. It’s stacking up. » “There are two realities in the City of Montreal. We feel it and we know it,” added his colleague Nancy Roy.
The blue-collar union is also disappointed.
“With all the expenses they are making, I find it a little unfortunate,” denounced President Jean-Pierre Lauzon.
[Les partys] were not luxurious. Normally it was a buffet, everyone eats together, the employees with the employer. It’s user-friendly. It’s a kind of recognition to our hard-working colleagues.
Jean-Pierre Lauzon, president of the blue-collar union
The Plante administration has not commented on the matter.
A squeeze of 115 million
The City of Montreal does not have a single model when it comes to Christmas celebrations. Each department organizes its own, sometimes by asking employees for a contribution, sometimes by using a fund linked to the coffee machine, sometimes from the employer’s budget, and often with a combination of these financings. The withdrawal of any contribution from the City obviously prevented several of these gatherings from taking place.
“Montreal recently adopted a plan to tighten municipal spending for the 2023 fiscal year,” said public relations officer Gonzalo Nunez, of the City of Montreal, in an email.
As part of these budgetary restrictions, general management has decided to withdraw the sums from function costs, reception and hospitality costs, room rental, meeting costs and all other related costs.
Gonzalo Nunez, public relations officer for the City of Montreal
The parties could therefore be maintained if they are 100% funded by employees.
The tightening policy was announced in mid-October by the president of the executive committee, Dominique Ollivier, who saw tax revenues melting like snow in the sun. A hiring freeze and total cuts of 115 million were on the menu.
Two weeks later, Mme Ollivier found herself mired in controversy surrounding her restaurant and travel expenses across the planet at the time she was head of the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM).
A month earlier, it was the decision of its executive committee to give a second annual bonus to all 1,800 executives of the City of Montreal that made headlines. A largesse which cost the public treasury 6 million.
“No recognition”
Beyond the cancellation of several parties of Christmas, it is the absence of recognition which particularly shocks white-collar and blue-collar leaders.
“There is no recognition of this from the City of Montreal,” added Mr. Dubois. When I say none, I mean none. »
You give 30 years of your life and there isn’t even a retirement dinner waiting for you at the end if it’s not the employees who take care of it.
Patrick Dubois, president of the white-collar union
Mr. Dubois recounted having telephone conversations with crying members whose bosses had not even come to greet them on the last day of their long career.
” There is no parties Christmas, but there are no Christmas presents either. And on the other hand, what we hear is frustrating,” added Nancy Roy. The trade unionist refers to her organization’s repeated requests for workers to obtain special checks to cope with inflation, as in certain demerged municipalities. Until now, Montreal has closed the door to these requests.