Canada: Tens of thousands of public-sector workers demonstrate against austerity, wage freezes
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Members of the common front sought to draw attention not only to the government’s austerity measures, but to protest against Treasury Board president Martin Coiteaux’s proposed public-sector wage freeze for the next two years, followed by annual one-per-cent raises until 2019.
The common front — comprising five workers’ federations — is seeking salary hikes of 13.5 per cent over three years. Two of the federations — the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) and the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) — already have strike mandates.
Strolling with their children and blowing noisemakers in the warm autumn sunshine, the workers marched down Parc Ave. to Sherbrooke St., before converging on McGill College Ave. for a concert and speeches by union leaders. Many of the workers were bused in from across Quebec.
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Many of the marchers waved flags or carried signs with slogans, one of which contained the following couplet in French: “Les plus pauvres à l’enfer pour l’équilibre budgétaire” (the poorest to hell for a balanced budget).
http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/tens-of-thousands-of-public-sector-workers-demonstrate-against-austerity-wage-freezes