Six firefighters fired, 46 suspended over City Hall protests
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Previous coverage of the protest
You may recall the extensive video that was posted online of the August 18 protest by firefighters and other municipal workers at City Hall in Montreal. The protests were about significant pension changes. The video has come back to haunt many of the protesters, including some who may now be losing those pensions.
Six Montreal firefighters, average salary $71,000 a year, fired.
Forty-six firefighters suspended without pay for a span ranging from one week to six months.
Seven Montreal blue collar workers suspended without pay for between one week and three months.
Four Montreal white collar workers suspended without pay for one to six months.
This was the fallout announced Thursday by the city of Montreal following an investigation by its human resources and comptroller’s departments into the Aug. 18 ransacking of city hall. More than 100 municipal workers, most of them firefighters, stormed in, tossing reams of paper throughout the building, chasing the mayor and councillors out of council chambers and up to offices, and flinging water and water glasses from elevated viewing galleries down toward councillors.
Pierre Saint-Arnaud, The Globe and Mail:
The workers were angry about a provincial government proposal to change their pensions so that all public-sector workers contribute a higher percentage to their plans.
Local politicians were forced to flee from their regular session as protesters threw documents and other objects from their desks while rampaging through the chamber.
Montreal police, who were present for the demonstration, were criticized for not intervening.
The sanctions followed an investigation by the city’s human resources department and the controller general, who analyzed video evidence in each case. Other employees are still under investigation.
They hung banners calling the mayor a thief, then left after an hour, while police stood by the entire time
Forty-four people are facing charges of assault and mischief for that incident, including firefighter’s union president Ronald Martin.
They are all pleading not guilty. Their union will pay the legal fees for their defence, as the first cases go to court Thursday.
