The doors of the Canadian War Museum and Canadian Museum of Civilization will remain open, despite 420 unionized guides, animators, archivists and other floor staff walking picket lines outside yesterday.
“All the exhibitions are open,” said Chantal J. Schryer, the vice-president of public affairs and publishing with the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corp. “Where there might be some alteration over the next few days is with the special programming.”
Employees on the picket line are asking people not to visit the museum until the strike is over.
Vincent Garcia, a tourist from Barcelona, Spain, decided not to visit. “We are workers also. We have to show solidarity,” he said.
However, a tour group from France eventually passed into the museum.“It would be the same if you went to Paris and they had a strike at the Louvre,” said Robert Butler, a tour guide with Lady Dive Tours. “They may never come back again, especially if it’s a negative experience.”
The CMCC presented its final offer on Friday morning. Schryer said they are asking the union to let members vote on that offer.
Patrice Remillard, a member of the union negotiating team, said they are waiting for the GMCC to return to the table. He said the CMCC is offering a seven per cent pay increase over the next four years, which is unacceptable when workers at other museums are already making much more.
Coupled with a 2.5 per cent raise on the anniversary of their employment and an added 2.5 per cent increase to the salary scales in the third and fourth years of the contract, Schryer said the raise actually works out to an increase between 12 and 17 per cent.
