As transit strike nears, Montreal's history of disruptive bus, métro and tram walkouts looms large

Montreal Gazette

2 days ago

By
In 1974, an illegal mechanics' walkout shut down Montreal's métro for 44 days, plunging the city into chaos — buses broke down, traffic seized up and tempers flared as commuters struggled to get to work and school.
It may be cold comfort to today's frustrated commuters, but the latest Montreal transit strike, due to kick off on Monday, will pale in comparison to the city-crippling shutdowns of decades past.
During the 1974 strike, buses were supposed to run, but they were jam-packed, trapped in gridlock, or blocked from leaving garages by picketing workers, some carrying baseball bats.
On the first day, union members went on a three-hour 'hijack rampage,' commandeering buses and ordering passengers off, the Montreal Star reported.
Supervisors tried to keep buses rolling, but only managed refuelling and minor repairs. As breakdowns piled up, service faltered, and weekend buses were cancelled. Some bus drivers were too scared to show up.
Many Montrealers were forced to walk. Taxis, carpools and hitchhiking offered alternatives, but with streets clogged, getting anywhere was painfully slow.
At six weeks, the 1974 strike is thought to be the longest transit strike in Montreal history. It was marked by 'heavy pickets, injunctions, numerous contempt-of-court charges and fines against the strikers,' The Gazette reported.
'It's a crime, just terrible,' Verdun pensioner Margaret Fox told a reporter at the time. Her usual 20-minute journey to visit her mother at an east-end hospital was taking an hour and a half.
'I think our country's going on the rocks. When we were young, we either worked or we got out, and that's the way it should be now.'
Bookkeeper Nicolay Mircea, fumed: 'It's the poor people who are the real losers — the rich have their cars, they don't care.'
The last Société de transport de Montréal strike occurred in 2007 — 18 years ago.
Walkouts used to be much more frequent.
In the 25 years between 1965 and 1990, there were 40 transit strikes in Montreal — some lasting weeks. Twenty-eight of them were illegal, according to the tally by the Transport 2000 lobby group.
In 1982, Premier René Lévesque's Parti Québécois government created the Essential Services Council to oversee the minimum level of service required during labour disputes in certain public sectors.
Since then, transit strikes haven't legally taken place unless a certain amount of service was offered.
But even if some buses and métros are operating, emotions run high and delays are inevitable.
During a 1987 walkout, commuter Christian Guitard was seething after missing the last evening rush-hour métro by two minutes.
'I earn $4.50 an hour and I can't afford a taxi, just like most of the other people who use the métro,' he told a reporter.
Earlier that day, at the Vendôme métro, a passenger who had missed the last morning rush-hour train slammed his fist on the counter, demanded his fare back and unleashed a stream of expletives when the fare wasn't returned, The Gazette reported.
During Montreal's last transit strike, in 2007, a St-Henri commuter told The Gazette: 'The cost of the pass keeps going up and there's no upgrade in the service. Now, I paid for a bus pass for the month, so they should make sure that they provide the service for a whole month.'
Montreal's history of transit work stoppages stretches back to the tramway era.
'Fifth tram strike in 10 years ties up city for 24 hours,' a 1953 Gazette headline blared. The subhead: 'All kinds of cars jam streets; 150 accidents.'
The wildcat walkout came on the day of the Santa Claus parade, making it difficult to reach downtown. Standing at Peel and Ste-Catherine Sts., Joe Doakes told The Gazette: 'It was the meanest thing they could have done to the kids.'
In 1943, a transit strike threatened local factories making vital goods for Canada's Second World War effort.
The Montreal Star's Page One headline: 'Tramways strike cramps war production; Illegal walkout ties city in knots.'
'For the first time in 40 years, Montreal was without a street railway or bus service today,' the newspaper reported.
'War production in the heavily industrialized metropolitan area was cut sharply and the life of the city as a whole was slowed, literally, to a walk, with a million daily tram riders left to their own devices as streetcar crews went out on strike.'
Thousands of war workers had to walk to and from factories. 'Production in practically every plant was reduced 30 to 50 per cent,' the Star reported.
Several clashes were reported.
'Serious trouble developed for a few minutes at the St. Denis shop yards when a tramway car filled with hired guards attempted to pass through a massed crowd of about 500 strikers and sympathizers,' The Gazette reported.
'Chunks of ice broke through the front windows as the driver fled and railway ties snatched from a nearby pile were heaped on the track. No more attempts to move streetcars from the yards were made.'