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Montreal Gazette
17-07-2025
- Business
- Montreal Gazette
STM workers warn of strike this fall if negotiations drag on
By The threat of another public transit strike looms this fall. Workers for the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) protested the sluggish contract negotiations outside the Youville maintenance garage on St-Laurent Blvd. on Thursday at noon, warning the 2,400 maintenance staff are prepared to walk out again if their demands aren't met. A maintenance worker in the STM's steam department, Jacqueline Maye, said that since the last strike in June, there have been nine negotiation meetings between the employer and the Syndicat du transport de Montréal. Even though a mediator has facilitated the meetings, she said 'nothing is moving forward.' 'Nobody wants to go on strike, but going on strike is the only way we can be heard,' Maye said at the transit workers' protest. She noted employees are limited in what they can do during a strike because they are considered an essential service, and that the parameters of a future strike would be similar to the last one. The nine-day STM strike last month caused major disruptions for transit users: bus and métro services were completely cut at certain times and reduced at others, forcing commuters to find another way to work, school and home. Union president Bruno Jeanotte said even though the strike heavily impacted Montrealers, working conditions still haven't improved. 'We saw that the impact of striking was very minimal at the negotiation table,' he told reporters at the protest Thursday. 'We are nine days into full negotiations with the employer. We still haven't received the employer's priorities,' Jeanotte said, adding that the union representatives made their demands clear at the first meeting. A major sticking point is the STM outsourcing maintenance work from the private sector, which Maye worries could lead to job cuts. 'We have all of the professionals here right on place to do the job, and at the end of the day, it ends up being cheaper,' she said. Warehouse assistant Marie-Ange Museghe, who has been working in STM's bus parts supply department for two decades, said there is a risk the STM will change her working hours if the union doesn't succeed in the negotiations. 'Right now, I start at 7 a.m. and work until 3 p.m., and if we switch, I might have to work until 6 p.m. and I might have to go to places where it's harder for me to get to than where I've been,' she said in an interview. 'It'll be hard to balance work and family. My hours won't be possible,' adding that the schedule change could push her to leave her job. In response to the protest, STM spokesperson Amélie Régis wrote they believe negotiations are moving in the right direction. 'We are fully respecting the agreed deadlines and continuing our work in a reasoned and constructive manner,' she wrote in an email statement to The Gazette. 'Since the end of the strike and the appointment of the mediator, meetings have been taking place at the rate of two to three days a week,' she said, noting there are three meetings this week and there are three planned for next week, with a three-week summer break scheduled for the end of July during the mediator's vacation.
Global News
19-06-2025
- Global News
Montreal transit agency reinstates ‘move along' rule to boost sense of security
See more sharing options Send this page to someone via email Share this item on Twitter Share this item via WhatsApp Share this item on Facebook Montreal's public transit agency has reintroduced a no-loitering rule in the city's subway tunnels. The Société de transport de Montréal says the measure helped decrease assaults on staff and increased users' sense of security when it was implemented as a pilot project earlier this year. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Transit officials have expressed concern over the number of people struggling with drug addiction and mental illness who use the metro stations as unofficial shelters. They announced in March they would fence off problematic gathering places and implement a 'move along' policy for a six-week period. The announcement was criticized by advocates who said people who are homeless have nowhere else to go. But the agency says the measures had positive effects on safety and has reinstated them until April 30, 2026.
Montreal Gazette
12-06-2025
- Montreal Gazette
Weekend traffic: Full transit service for Grand Prix weekend
The Canadian Grand Prix is this weekend, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city. With no parking on the island where the event takes place, the city is strongly encouraging anyone planning to go to take public transit, which will offer full service Friday through Sunday, despite a maintenance workers' strike at the Société de transport de Montréal and ongoing tests of the Réseau express métropolitain light-rail line. STM buses, the métro and the REM will all run on full schedules, from 5:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. Final departures of the REM toward Brossard Friday and Sunday night will be at 1:10 a.m. (Saturday and Monday morning, respectively), and 1:40 a.m. for the night of Saturday into Sunday. The Grand Prix is served by the Jean-Drapeau métro station on the Yellow Line. Signs at various métro stations will guide users to how to get there. A special weekend transit fare is available through the Chrono app and Opus vending machines, allowing unlimited trips throughout the ARTM's territory (Zones A-D) between 5 a.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Monday for $19.75. There is also a special river shuttle between the Old Port and Île Ste-Hélène, from 8:15 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday through Sunday, for $6 or free with a weekly or monthly All Modes Opus pass. No new highway disruptions are planned this weekend. Victoria Bridge To facilitate traffic for the Grand Prix, the Victoria Bridge will not adopt a rush-hour configuration on Friday, and will remain one lane in each direction between 7:15 p.m. Thursday and 5 a.m. Monday. Bus route changes The STM is changing two of its night bus routes as of Monday: No. 358 Sainte-Catherine will be renamed 358 René-Lévesque and will travel along René-Lévesque Blvd. from Atwater Ave. to Papineau Ave. No. 368 Avenue-du-Mont-Royal will stop serving the Outremont métro station, simplifying its route to just Laurier Ave. and Côte-Ste-Catherine Rd. Continuing disruptions REM: Except for this weekend, the Réseau express métropolitain remains closed on weekends and ends service at 8:20 p.m. weekdays until summer. Replacement shuttle buses will run between the stations when the REM is not operating, except from 1:30 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. Highway 10: A westbound lane on the Bonaventure Expressway is closed between the Victoria Bridge and Wellington St. until December. On the Clément Bridge connecting Montreal with Nuns' Island, traffic runs contraflow with one lane in each direction until December. Highway 20/Route 132: In St-Lambert, repaving work on a section of the eastbound highway between the Champlain Bridge and Notre-Dame Ave. requires it to close from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. until the end of July. Highway 40: The Île-aux-Tourtes Bridge between Vaudreuil-Dorion and Montreal Island is down to two lanes in each direction. Ste-Catherine St.: The street is closed to traffic between Stanley St. and McGill College Ave. for work on major renovations through summer. Jean-Talon St.: Work on building the Blue Line métro extension will force parts of Jean-Talon St. to be closed. Affected buses (in particular 141 and 372) are detoured onto Bélanger and Everett Sts. to avoid those areas. St-Jacques St.: Work on underground infrastructure has closed the street between St-Philippe St. and De Courcelle St. until the end of May. Pie-IX Blvd.: Work to extend the SRB Pie-IX south means only one lane is open in each direction between Pierre-de-Coubertin Ave. and Notre-Dame St. Ste-Catherine St. remains open through Pie-IX (and Hochelaga St. as well as on Monday), but other cross streets are closed west of Pie-IX. St-Urbain St.: The overpass over the Ville-Marie Expressway is closed for a long renovation until the end of 2026. Pedestrian access is maintained. Pedestrianized streets this summer Mont-Royal Ave. between St-Laurent Blvd. and St-Denis St. until Oct. 16 and between St-Denis St. and De Lorimier Ave. until Sept. 4. Duluth Ave. E. between St-Laurent Blvd. and St-Hubert St. from Monday to Oct. 16. Wellington St. between 6th Ave. and Regina St. until Sept. 19. Ste-Catherine St. E. between St-Hubert St. and Papineau Ave. and a short stretch of St-Christophe St. between Ste-Catherine St. E. and 1278 St-Christophe St., until Oct. 14. St-Denis St. between Sherbrooke and Ste-Catherine Sts., and Émery St. between Sanguinet and St-Denis Sts., from Saturday to Sept. 15. Ontario St. E. between Pie-IX Blvd. and Darling St. from Monday to Sept. 12. Bernard Ave. W. between Wiseman and Bloomfield Sts. until Sept. 21. De Castelnau St. E. between St-Denis St. and de Gaspé Ave. until Nov. 7.
Montreal Gazette
08-06-2025
- 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
06-06-2025
- 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
