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Montreal Gazette
2 days ago
- General
- Montreal Gazette
As transit strike nears, Montreal's history of disruptive bus, métro and tram walkouts looms large
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.'
Montreal Gazette
4 days ago
- Business
- Montreal Gazette
Explainer: How did we get to an STM strike?
By Barring any last-minute deal, the 2,400 maintenance workers at Montreal's public transit agency are heading on strike next week. The pressure tactic comes after dozens of meetings spanning more than a year between the Société de transport de Montréal and the union at the bargaining table. Bus and métro service will be entirely cut at certain times and reduced at others during the nine-day walkout, meaning commuters will have to find another way to work, school and home. The Gazette looked at how the situation evolved to this point. Dozens of meetings The union representing maintenance workers and management at the STM have not yet reached a deal. Bruno Jeannotte, president of the Syndicat du transport de Montréal–CSN, said the contract expired Jan. 4 and the two sides have had about 75 meetings to date. 'We've already been negotiating for a year and two months,' he said in an interview Thursday. The latest meeting took place Wednesday, with another set for next week. Jeannotte said there was no attempt by the STM to schedule another meeting before the strike begins. In an email, a spokesperson for the STM said Thursday that meetings are continuing and that it proposed a facilitator to speed up negotiations. The agency will provide an update to users 'if the situation evolves.' The issues The sticking points for maintenance workers include schedules, the use of subcontractors including for paratransit service, and finding ways to retain and attract staff. Jeannotte said current workers won't accept setbacks in working conditions, adding that young people are not applying for the agency's open maintenance positions. 'We want to keep our public transit. We want to maintain our reliability,' he said. The STM declined The Gazette's request for an interview Thursday, saying it spoke about the subject during a news conference Wednesday. But the agency has said it wants more flexibility in the location and schedules of its employees and assigning outsourcing work like garbage collection. Essential services Maintenance workers' first attempt to strike in late May failed. Quebec's labour tribunal rejected the union's proposed one-day walkout, which would have maintained bus service but completely shut down the métro system. It ruled it didn't meet the standards of public safety. The union's second attempt — which is a longer and staggered cut to service — came after talks. The STM's management noted that 'a level of essential services was agreed upon between the parties' and submitted to the tribunal. This included 'maintaining paratransit service at all times, maintaining a certain level of service for buses and the métro, and adding additional provisions to ensure the smooth running of the F1 Montreal Grand Prix festivities.' The tribunal had to decide whether those planned essential services would be sufficient to avoid endangering public health or safety. It approved the labour action Monday. It will mark the first time transit workers walked off the job since 2007. Vulnerable commuters Ahmed El-Geneidy, a professor in transport planning at McGill University, said the strike and limited transit service during off-peak hours will impact low-income workers and students. He pointed to how the walkout will occur during high school exams and how some shift workers could be without a way to get to work. 'The timing of when you are cutting service or when you're using this tool to negotiate, it's actually problematic because those who will be harmed the most are the vulnerable groups,' El-Geneidy said in an interview Thursday. The head of the union said the 'goal isn't to strike and disrupt people's personal lives' but to move contract negotiations forward. Jeannotte also said that while public transit service will be offered during Grand Prix weekend, it was a question of safety. 'It's not because it's the Grand Prix. It's really the volume of people that compromises us in our strike and in the obligation to consider the public safety aspect,' he said. More strikes? When asked about other potential strikes, Jeannotte said 'it's a possibility' if a deal isn't reached. 'We're not there right now. That's the problem,' he said. 'What we're saying is that we're going to maintain some form of pressure, that's for sure.' On Wednesday, STM CEO Marie-Claude Léonard conceded it could be a difficult summer for transit users as the agency negotiates with four unions. Last weekend, the STM's bus and métro operators also voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike mandate. Lack of funding Both the STM and the union have called on the Quebec government to invest more in the city's public transit. The province needs to treat bus and métro as essential, and help keep them running, according to El-Geneidy. 'They shouldn't be cutting the money on operations that they were providing a couple of years ago,' he said. with files from Jason Magder and Presse Canadienne
Montreal Gazette
6 days ago
- Business
- Montreal Gazette
Hanes: STM public-transit strike could be harbinger of doom spiral to come
By We take it for granted in Montreal that any time we descend the escalator to the underground platform, a métro train will arrive shortly to whisk us to another part of the city. It happens every few minutes from early morning until after midnight. Ditto for the bus. If we stand at the stop long enough — and sometimes it's a while, depending on the (in)frequency of the route or delays caused by traffic — the bus will eventually pull up to the curb and off we'll go. It's a critical service we depend on, but one we often take it for granted. So Montrealers could be in for a rude awakening next week. If maintenance workers at the Société de transport de Montréal make good on a plan to go on stirke, métro and bus service will be drastically curtailed. Because public transit is an essential service — a sign of its importance — it can't be halted completely. But the reduced schedule that the Tribunal administratif du Québec signed off on will still be a shock. Service will operate at normal levels only during three time slots each day, starting Monday. The métro will operate from 6:30 a.m. to 9:38 a.m., 2:45 p.m. to 5:48 p.m. and 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. Buses will run from 6:15 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.., 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 11:15 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. Outside those hours, there will be no other transit service Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Brace yourselves. As of Thursday, métros and buses will run at half-capacity during off-peak hours, and at regular intervals during those three daily windows. There will be full restoration of service for the Grand Prix weekend, to avoid hurting the marquee event or besmirching Montreal's international reputation. Then the rush-hour and 50-per-cent itinerary will return for two more days. The approved strike concludes June 17. At least for now. This major disruption should only be temporary, depending on how quickly the union and management hammer out a new contract. But it could nevertheless offer a harrowing glimpse of Montreal's future in the event of a transit doom spiral. This vicious cycle, described by McGill University researchers, is when cutbacks to mass transit precipitate declines in ridership that lead to further losses in revenue and reductions to service. It's a crisis that undermines the long-term sustainability, viability and attractiveness of a vital public good. Once triggered, it's difficult to reverse. Sadly, a doom spiral is a not-so-remote possibility in Montreal, where transit operations face a growing structural deficit. The Autorité régionale de transport métropolitaine, which funds and runs public transport in the greater Montreal area, faces a shortfall of $2 billion over five years, which has been a source of ongoing friction between Montreal and the province. The Quebec government has only agreed to fill part of the hole in each of the last few years, leaving Montreal, other municipalities, and transit operators to come up with the rest — or face the spectre of painful cuts. The STM has contemplated closing the métro earlier at night and has reduced the frequency of bus lines that were supposed to arrive every 10 minutes. The ARTM has warned it may have to axe entire Exo commuter train routes and limit departures on others, all of which are lifelines connecting suburbs to the city. To offset the deficit, the Communauté métropolitain de Montréal tripled its vehicle registration fee this year to raise more than $320 million for transit. But it's still not enough. Montreal needs more transit, not less. Yet what we have is inexcusably at risk. This unresolved issue is crying out for a permanent fix. If only the Quebec government of Premier François Legault would recognize the importance of public transit to Montreal's economic, social and environmental well-being and commit to supporting what already exists, while investing in new infrastructure. Pollution from transportation is, after all, the largest and fastest-growing share of Quebec's greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to the climate emergency. Road congestion is a huge drain on productivity. We're about to get a sneak peek of what happens when transit service is slashed. Students might have to rush home from school to avoid getting stranded. Shift workers may not be able get to and from their jobs outside of rush hour. Office employees could skip the 5 à 7 or the gym workout to make it home before service is shut down. Passengers could be packed in like sardines. More people will end up driving, worsening Montreal's already hellish traffic and spewing more emissions. Many will work from home, harming the post-pandemic recovery of downtown. Even this brief interruption could have long-lasting ramifications. The strike should serve as a wakeup call that we must avert a doom spiral for Montreal transit at all costs.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
STM strike could disrupt Montreal Metro and bus service for several days
Maintenance workers with Montreal's public transit service are planning to strike this month, leading to service disruptions outside of rush hour on both the bus and Metro lines. Quebec's labour tribunal ruled that workers with the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) can go on strike from June 9 at 12 a.m. to June 17 at 11:59 p.m. The union representing the workers, the Syndicat du transport de Montréal-CSN, and the STM agreed to provide essential services only during peak hours and late in the evening on June 9, 10, 11, 16 and 17. There will be extended service periods on June 12 and full service over Canadian Grand Prix weekend from June 13 to June 15, when the city sees a significant increase in traffic. The president of the union says the exception for Grand Prix weekend is due to security reasons and not because they're trying to appease the Formula 1 clientele. "They sell about 100,000 tickets each day for the Grand Prix," said Bruno Jeannotte. "So, considering that we're talking about 100,000 trips between Île Sainte-Hélène and downtown Montreal, if there's an emergency on the island or whatever, we have no choice but to be ready to react." Speaking at an unrelated news conference Tuesday, Mayor Valérie Plante said she was relieved the Grand Prix weekend had been spared of service disruptions, adding that she hopes both parties in the dispute come to a solution quickly so as to not penalize commuters. The union, which represents 2,400 maintenance workers at the STM, has been negotiating with the STM for over a year, asking for better working conditions like better schedules, and to scale back on outsourcing. Jeannotte says negotiations are still underway and could even continue during the strike, adding they're not aiming for an unlimited strike. "We're willing to negotiate certain points but not on the issue of subcontracting or privatizing the STM's public systems," he said. Éric Alan Caldwell, the chair of the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), Speaking alongside Plante, STM board chair Éric Alan Caldwell said the agency will hold a news conference Wednesday to address service disruptions during the strike. "We're 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," he said. "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." On its website, where the transit plan for next week is outlined, the STM says its users should plan accordingly and encourages them to use active modes of transportation to get by or to work from home. Over the weekend, the union representing the STM's bus drivers, Metro operators, station attendants and adapted transit drivers also voted in favour of a strike. The union has been re-negotiating its collective agreement with the STM which expired in January and is making similar demands to the maintenance workers, as well as a salary increase. "This negotiation is part of something bigger, which is really the public transit funding crisis," said Plante. STM service limited to rush hour and late evenings on June 9, 10, 11, 16 and 17: Metro: • 6:30 a.m. to 9:38 a.m. • 2:45 p.m. to 5:48 p.m. • 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. Bus: • 6:15 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. • 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. • 11:15 p.m. to 1:15 a.m. STM service offered on June 12, the eve of Canadian Grand Prix weekend: Metro: • 6:30 a.m. to 10:38 a.m. • 2:45 p.m. to 6:48 p.m. • 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. Bus: • 6:15 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. • 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. • 11:15 p.m. to 1:15 a.m.
Time Out
03-06-2025
- Business
- Time Out
Montreal metro and bus strike June 2025: Dates and everything you need to know
With the Canadian Grand Prix coming to Montreal, the city will be busier than ever —with a week-long metro and bus strike in the mix. Maintenance workers at Montreal's public transit agency are set to strike this month, causing disruptions to bus and Metro service outside of rush hours. Time Out Tip: No better time to mention that over 7 km of road across six boroughs will be officially car-free for nearly four months from June to September, 2025. According to Quebec's labour tribunal, Société de transport de Montréal (STM) employees are permitted to strike from 12 a.m. on June 9 to 11:59 p.m. on June 17, 2025. During this period, only essential services will be maintained during peak hours and late evenings. There will be extended service periods on June 12, 2025, and full service over Canadian Grand Prix weekend from June 13 to June 15, 2025. When will the bus and metro run during the STM strike? STM service will be limited to rush hour and late evenings on June 9, 10, 11, 16 and 17, 2025: Metro: 6:30 a.m. to 9:38 a.m. 2:45 p.m. to 5:48 p.m. 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. Bus: 6:15 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. 11:15 p.m. to 1:15 a.m. Will service be affected during Grand Prix weekend? The following is the schedule of services offered on June 12, 2025, the eve of Canadian Grand Prix weekend: Metro: 6:30 a.m. to 10:38 a.m. 2:45 p.m. to 6:48 p.m. 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. Bus: 6:15 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. 11:15 p.m. to 1:15 a.m. Why is the STM going on strike? Members of the local Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) stated that the STM administration continues to make significant demands on unionized staff, particularly when it comes to work schedules, work-life balance and job security. Also among the points of contention between union members and the employer is the issue of wage increases and the privatization of paratransit services.
