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CBC
a day ago
- Politics
- CBC
Quebec names mediator for Montreal public transit strike
The Quebec government has named a mediator in a labour dispute between Montreal's public transit authority and its maintenance workers. About 2,400 maintenance workers have been on strike since Monday. As a result bus and Metro service is limited to morning and afternoon rush hours and late at night. Labour Minister Jean Boulet says on social media that the mediator will be tasked with easing tensions between both sides and restoring a dialogue "conducive to negotiations." Talks between the transit authority and maintenance workers were scheduled to resume today. Regular service is expected to be maintained from Friday to Sunday for the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, but will be restricted on other days until the strike is set to end on June 17.
CBC
2 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Here's why STM workers are on strike — and why negotiations could drag on
For the first time in 18 years, maintenance workers for Montreal's public transit system walked off the job Monday, poking significant holes in the city's bus and Metro network schedule and causing headaches for commuters. More unions may be joining the movement. The one that represents bus and Metro car drivers for the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) has approved a strike mandate as well. The maintenance workers with the Syndicat de transport de Montréal are trying to renew their collective agreement, which expired in January. "We don't want to be on strike. We want to be at work. The problem is, we are not able to negotiate right now," said Simon Larivière, a union delegate. For them, there are several key negotiation sticking points including work schedules. The union says the transit authority wants to get rid of 12-hour work days. Its members, however, believe those schedules provide a better work-life balance. "The employer wants to rip up those schedules and make people work two weekends a month instead of one weekend a month. It's not that way we get people to work for the STM," said François Enault, the vice-president for the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), the large labour federation that includes the maintenance workers' union. The maintenance workers also want a 25 per cent pay bump over five years — up from a base salary of $80,000 per year. And they say aging infrastructure is making their jobs harder. After more than 70 meetings, the STM says it's asked for a third party mediator. The agency says it faces financial pressure and needs to reduce overhead costs and change scheduling. 75 meetings down, but it took 170 last time STM executive director Marie-Claude Léonard said there have been 75 meetings with the union and "we have not yet addressed the monetary clauses." Léonard explained that it took 170 meetings to reach an agreement during the negotiations for the last collective agreement — an agreement that lasted seven years. Since the salary clauses and several substantive issues have not yet been addressed at the negotiating table, it was not possible to prevent the strike by organizing a negotiation blitz, she said. WATCH | Transit users react to strike on Monday: How commuters are dealing with Montreal's public transit strike 22 hours ago Duration 1:25 June 9, 10 and 11 are going to be the most challenging days of the STM maintenance workers' strike because the Metro and buses will only run during rush hour and a few late-night hours. Philippe Jacques, the spokesperson for the public transportation advocacy group Trajectoire Québec, said the most vulnerable people are the ones who will bear the brunt of this strike. That means those who cannot afford a round-trip taxi ride to work or medical appointments as well as those who are unable to travel by bike. "There are a lot of people who are dependent on public transport, who have no alternative," said Jacques, but, he added, wealthy tourists coming to the city to watch the Canadian Grand Prix will be offered fully operational public transit service due to the strike schedule exemptions. Plante administration says funding shortfall to blame The Valérie Plante administration has repeatedly blamed the lack of provincial funding for the STM's financial issues. STM board chair Éric Alan Caldwell recently said the transit agency is working to have the best agreement "for our workers but also for the financial health of public transit in order to maintain demand and see it grow." "We're dealing with a situation where we have to fit into the money that is available for transit and that's why [there's] negotiations on both parts," he said. Opposition at city hall says the strike could have been avoided if the two sides had come to table earlier. "I expect this to be a tough one. It's going to be long and I don't see a settlement," said Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Ensemble Montréal's leader. She said the city should have seen this coming. "They should have worked with the board and the management teams to avoid where we are at right now," she said. The waiting game Labour specialist Marc Ranger served as the Quebec director of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). He said parties often wait too long to sit down and negotiate. For now, negotiations are at a standstill, according to Bruno Jeannotte, the president of the Syndicat de transport de Montréal that represents the striking maintenance workers. "We have not been approached since the meeting last Wednesday, June 4. Our next negotiation meeting is next Wednesday," he said, adding that the union is ready to negotiate every day. "If the STM calls us to the negotiating table today, we will go there, of course. We are ready to look at the employer's demands and see if there is a possibility of reaching an agreement." According to Jeannotte, the employer has submitted more than 130 demands at the negotiation table.
CBC
3 days ago
- Politics
- CBC
Montreal commuters frustrated, left with few options as STM strike disrupts service
Social Sharing Montreal transit users are caught in the middle of a conflict between the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) and its maintenance workers. Many Montrealers, like Karen Chapman, are frustrated by the reduction in Metro and bus service. As a shipper in a warehouse for textiles, Chapman starts her shift at 7 a.m. — a mere 30 minutes after service begins during the strike. She wonders why commuters like herself should have to pay the price of this dispute. "It shouldn't be our fault," she said, highlighting the fact that Montrealers who use the bus and Metro won't get compensated for the price they pay for their monthly passes. "They should talk it out and figure out a way so that we don't hurt, the public," she said. "There's a lot of people that work hourly wages, so they will be docked." WATCH | Stranded commuters react to strike: How commuters are dealing with Montreal's public transit strike 4 hours ago Duration 1:25 Jacqueline Dixon, an orderly at a nursing home who works from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. finds the situation "not fair" for anybody. "Not everybody has money to pay for an Uber, a taxi or rent a bicycle," she said. Now, instead of leaving her house an hour in advance, Dixon said she might have to leave two hours early. "We're not happy," she said. "We can't call in sick, there has to be a better solution." Maintenance workers with Montreal's transit authority launched a week-long strike on Monday, citing some of the STM's 130 demands that they find unacceptable — including the removal of 12-hour work days that contribute to many people's work-life balance. Buses and Metro cars started running at around 6:30 a.m. on Monday, about an hour later than usual. Many night and early shift workers were stranded, having no choice but to wait for the first bus or Metro. Juvenson Latus, a Montreal student and logistics technician, works at night and explained that although he waited for the first Metro car of the day to come, he couldn't even make it on. "When the first Metro arrived, it was so crowded, I couldn't get on it. I had to wait for another one," said Latus. "It's everyone who's hit by this, it's so hard." Ugox Saint works a split shift as a security guard. On Monday, he finished working at around 3 a.m. and was still at the Lionel-Groulx Metro station at 6 a.m. "We are begging the government to come to our aid because we can't do without them," said Saint.
