Mayor Coderre to Make Police Union Pay for Mass Sick Day Cost

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre has announced to have decided that the city of Montreal will be billing Montreal’s police union for the cost incurred when 100 officers called in sick on Saturday to protest pension reforms. Coderre says the city will make the union pay for the overtime officers worked to replace their apparently sick colleagues, while calling the tactic “irresponsible” and adding that the officers will lose a sick day as a result of their actions.

Coderre mentioned that “they can yell at me, they can boo me, they can talk against issues, that’s democracy,” and added that “we can have those kinds of discussions. But if they’re using some tactics that will have a direct impact on the citizens, there will be consequences.” The announcement came after an emergency meeting was commenced among Quebec’s labour board and the Montreal police union at 2 a.m. on Saturday. The meeting lasted till 6.a.m with the labour board ruling the protest illegal and ordering all officers back to work. After the meeting, Coderre stressed that “you don’t play with the security of Montrealers,” and that “for the supplementary work, it’s not the citizens who will pay for it. It will be the union.”

The officers were protesting against a legislation introduced by the Quebec government that seeks to fund public pensions equally, i.e. 50 per cent by tax payers and 50 per cent by workers. It is not yet known how much overtime costs the pressure tactic entailed, although the police department insists services were not compromised.