About 200 people gathered in front of Bombardier’s Montreal headquarters on Sunday to denounce a hefty increase in compensation to senior management. Protester Paul Bourdon describes the raises as “an insult to Quebec workers.”

“I have difficulty to have two per cent, or 1.5 per cent this year for my salary and our money is going to the rich guy out there,” he said.

The company has been under fire since it became known last week that compensation to chairman Pierre Beaudoin and five senior executives soared to more than $32 million last year, up from $21 million in 2015. Beaudoin announced late Friday that he has asked the board to scale his pay back to 2015 levels.

The increases came as the company recieved hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies. Protester Hannah Obermeir is furious at the provincial government for giving the company a billion dollars in 2016 without guaranteeing how the public funds would be used.

“Who gives a billion dollars without negotiating some conditions linked to that money? You keep jobs here and the leaders of this company are not allowed to give themselves such abominable raises,” she said.

Jean Monty, the head of Bombardier’s human resources and compensation committee, issued an open letter Saturday saying the company must compete with firms globally to recruit and retain talent.

Monty’s letter also points out that 75 per cent of compensation for most senior Bombardier executives is based on meeting performance targets and is not guaranteed.

Monty’s letter also said pay comparisons between 2016 and 2015 are misleading because some of the executives started with Bombardier only part way through 2015; for example Alain Bellemare was appointed President and CEO in February, 2015.