United Steelworkers staff representative Michel Courcy told The Gazette newspaper last week's vote for rotating strikes was favored by 65.5 percent of the 700 guards who voted.

Philippe Yaworsky, a vice president of the provincial employers' association and coordinator of its bargaining team, said Quebec's guards are the best paid in Canada at an average salary of $13.15 an hour. In neighboring Ontario, a guard's average hourly wage is $9.

Union coordinator Robert Bernier told reporters Monday hospitals were the main target for the rotating walkouts. Guards are widely used in emergency and psychiatric departments,

The disputed issues include salaries, premiums for evening, night or weekend shifts and the expansion of other existing premiums, the union said.