Montreal cuts jobs, services to tackle deficit

The City of Montreal will eliminate 1,000 municipal jobs through attrition, officials said Wednesday as they laid out a series of cutbacks meant to control a growing deficit.

Frank Zampino, the head of the city's executive committee, said the municipal government faces a $400-million budget shortfall and has no choice but to eliminate what he calledsuperfluous services in order to maintain fiscal responsibility.

"We were told many times in the past ... that the city of Montreal is an over-bureaucratic entity.It's got a huge budget. We did this so that in a transparent and honest matter [we can] tell both the governmentand tell our citizens what our situation is."

The city, which employs about 23,000 workers,can save millions of dollars by eliminating about a 1,000 jobs, a quarter of which are management positions, he said.

The job cuts will be phasedin gradually over the next few years through attrition, said Zampino.

"This is going to be done in a manner that respects the employees and the unions."

Other cutbacks

The city also plans to:

• Stop inspecting food services and restaurants.
• No longer monitor air quality.
• Eliminate some police services.
• Ask non-profit groups to play a bigger financial role in sporting events.
• Reduce emergency help provided to fire victims.

Mayor Gérald Tremblay predicted that the cuts, along with other changes, would save the city $300 million in the near future.

The announcement was not well received by unions representing city workers, especially white-collar employees, who are heading into contract negotiations with the city.

"We talked that there would be a negotiation with respect, a real discussion, and a frank discussion. But with the way the city acts now,I don't know what kind of reaction we'llhave, and what will be the atmosphere for these discussions," said André Dollo, a spokesman for the white collar workers' union.

The president of Montreal's blue collar union said he's astonished the city didn't consult him before going ahead with the announced cuts.