Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada has announced an immediate hiring freeze affecting the city's white-collar workers, professional staff, and managers as part of her administration's effort to improve financial management.
Details of the Hiring Freeze
The mayor's office confirmed that external hiring for white-collar and professional positions will be paused indefinitely, while the nomination of managers will be suspended for both internal and external candidates. This decision comes despite the significant increase in city workers in recent years, which the mayor says has coincided with a decline in service levels.
Mayor Ferrada emphasized that this move demonstrates the city's commitment to being an exemplary manager of its finances. The freeze represents a significant shift in the city's hiring practices and follows through on her campaign promise to reduce city staffing.
Exemptions and Union Response
The hiring freeze contains several important exemptions. Borough-level hiring will not be affected, and the freeze does not apply to police officers, firefighters, school crossing guards, or blue-collar workers. The mayor's office indicated that exceptions could be made to ensure the quality of public services remains unaffected.
The Syndicat des fonctionnaires municipaux de Montréal, representing the city's white-collar workers, expressed concern about the decision. The union noted that its members include staff at essential services like 911, 311, property tax assessment, permit offices, and lifeguards at city pools. These workers, the union claims, are among the city's lowest-paid full-time employees but have been the first to face job cuts in previous reductions.
The union acknowledged the city's desire to shift human resources from central administration to boroughs for better local services but emphasized that this transition should not lead to job cuts among its members, whose numbers have grown by only five percent over the past decade.
Campaign Promises and Future Implications
During the municipal election campaign, Mayor Martinez Ferrada committed to cutting 1,000 city jobs while promising these reductions would not affect services to citizens. The current hiring freeze appears to be the first step toward fulfilling this campaign pledge.
The union warned that further cuts would negatively impact already weakened services to citizens, contradicting the promises made by Ensemble Montréal during the election campaign. The freeze affects professional staff including lawyers, architects, engineers, surveyors, and librarians, though frontline and emergency services remain protected from the hiring restrictions.
The mayor's office has not specified a timeline for when the hiring freeze might be lifted, indicating it will remain in effect until further notice while the administration evaluates the city's staffing needs and financial priorities.
