STM shutdown this weekend as bus and métro drivers cleared to strike
STM bus and métro drivers will go ahead with a 48-hour strike this weekend, Quebec’s labour tribunal announced Wednesday night.
The walkout, set from 4:00 a.m. on Nov. 15 to 3:59 a.m. on Nov. 17, will shut down all STM service except paratransit, if no agreement is found.
The Tribunal administratif du travail said the essential-services plan submitted by the drivers’ union was sufficient to ensure public safety, clearing the way for the strike to proceed. It said: “The evidence does not demonstrate that the interruption of STM services for a weekend, with the exception of paratransit, represents a clear, imminent, and real threat to the life, safety, health, or security of the population.”
STM bus drivers and métro workers shut down the network on Nov. 1 in their first strike in 38 years. That shutdown coincided with a slate of major sports events across the city, leaving thousands of fans scrambling to get around. “A shit show,” one fan said about trying to reach the Bell Centre, adding that his Uber fare had doubled in the hours after the STM network went dark.
The 4,500-member union is striking over what it describes as increasingly difficult working conditions, including split shifts that leave operators unpaid for hours between assignments and demands for fairer schedules.
The STM said in a statement Wednesday night it “acknowledges” the tribunal’s decision despite pushing for more service. It said mediation with the union is continuing in hopes of averting the shutdown, and said it remains committed to reaching a deal that improves flexibility and operational efficiency.
During negotiations, the STM raised concerns about food insecurity, access to health care and mobility for low-income riders, and asked the tribunal to adopt a broader interpretation of “danger” that would require some weekend service to remain in place. But administrative judge Karine Blouin ultimately disagreed.
She wrote that long food-bank lines after the Nov. 1 strike, “although exasperating,” did not meet the legal threshold of danger and would likely ease now that the maintenance strike has ended.
Blouin also noted the essential-services plan was jointly negotiated in April after extensive modelling and consultations with emergency services.
The shutdown “could have serious consequences for low-income people suffering from food insecurity,” she acknowledged, but said the tribunal is bound by the law, which allows limits on the right to strike only when public health or safety is at stake.
Earlier Wednesday, full bus and métro service resumed after a month-long strike by STM maintenance workers was halted.
Their dispute, which is centred on subcontracting, overtime and pay, had reduced the network to peak-hour and late-night service for weeks.
[Source: The Montreal Gazette]
