Recently, we have noticed that the police are wearing colorful camouflage pants. Odd, we thought. Last week, K's union voted to change their constitution, providing a route to strike if the university does not come back with an acceptable salary increase offer. You may be wondering how these items are related. Today, we were at brunch with new friends. We told them about K's potential strike. And they asked if it would be like the police strike. The police are on strike? Oh, dear.
Apparently, their strike comes in a colorful camo pattern. You see, Montreal police officers have been working without a contract for almost two years due to a labor dispute between their union (la Fraternité des Policiers et Policières) and the city. By law, the officers cannot strike because they provide an essential service. So, they have been using a variety of tactics to pressure the city. Apparently, the camoflauge pants are the latest.
It seems this tactic is actually getting some attention. At a Conseil des services essentiels du Québec meeting, the police chief made a statement against the camo pants - stating that the pants would remind immigrants from countries under military regimes of the violence and repression they faced. This pissed people off (the type of pants probably aren't the problem, eh?) The council decided that the pants can stay.
So, my point. Will we soon see Professor Schmlloyd donning camouflage pants?
By the way, the camouflage pants were preceded and joined by a variety of other styles, for example, plaid shorts over tights and pink parachute pants (photos from random sources).
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