More dates set for police union negotiations

The city and the Montreal Police Brotherhood have another round of intensive bargaining coming up.

The two sides have agreed to sit down again from June 18-21, with the possibility of extending the session, Catherine Maurice, a spokesperson for Mayor Denis Coderre, said in an email message late last week.

The city announced in late May that contract talks were resuming with its police union, which represents 4,600 members. The union has been without a contract since 2015 and has been at war with city hall since Coderre and Quebec City mayor Régis Labeaume urged the Quebec government in 2014 to introduce legislation scaling back public funding of pensions for police, firefighters and other municipal workers.

The law passed, and police officers have since refused to wear their full uniforms as a pressure tactic. Officers are instead wearing khakis in protest.

The intensive round of negotiations began on May 24, and continued all of the weekend and the Monday and Tuesday, Maurice said.

However, major issues remain to be negotiated, she said. The points are technical and require opinions from experts, Maurice said. However, she added that the city won’t comment further or qualify the progress of negotiations.

An estimated 3,000 off-duty police officers disrupted Montreal’s 375th celebrations on May 17 by protesting through the city and in Old Montreal.