Blue collar workers protested outside Montreal city hall Monday on the first of 40 days of planned walkouts. (CBC) 

The city of Montreal says it will not give in to the demands of its blue collar workers union despite plans by its 5,000 members to say no to overtime work starting next Thursday.

The union’s plan comes just days after it ended a series of one-day rotating strikes.

The major sticking points in contract negotiations are salaries and sub-contracting. The union is asking for a salary increase of 10 per cent over four years, and demanding the city cut back on subcontracting to private firms.

The city cannot afford to meet the union’s demands, said Montreal's director of professional relations, Jean Yves Hinse.

"We calculate if we give only [a] three per cent increase for 2007, it will cost at least $150 million," said Hinse. "That means an increase of the tax bills of six per cent."

Essential services council to rule on plans

The city's essential services council said the union made its intentions known on Monday.

The city and the union met Friday afternoon to work out details over whether workers will be required to work overtime on essential services, such as garbage-collection.

"The union is saying our employees will not do any overtime. The employers are saying overtime is part of essential services," said Christian Gauthier, spokesperson for the essential services council.

The agreement reached by the two sides could affect service during the Easter holiday. Any union member working on Good Friday or Easter Monday is automatically on overtime hours, because those days are holidays.

In addition, Montreal's big spring clean-up entails a lot of overtime work for blue collars, said Marc Ranger, chief negotiator for the union.

"Right now, we're going to go case by case. When it's not jeopardizing the health and safety of the citizens, we're not going to provide blue collars to do the job," said Ranger. "Regular hours, no problem."

The union is also asking that the roughly 50 blue collar workers filling temporary supervisor positions be released from those jobs, since they are not permanent postings.

In January, workers began a series of one-day strikes over the course of 40 days, moving from one district to another. Workers did not pick up garbage during the rotating strikes.

"Because for one borough it was a one day strike. If the garbage wasn't picked up on a given day — it was the day after," said Gauthier.

The workers have been without a contract for more than two years.