2 days ago
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.
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How commuters are dealing with Montreal's public transit strike
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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.
