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A day before Quebec’s labour minister was set to table a bill that would give the provincial government the power to end Montreal’s ongoing transit strike, the union representing maintenance workers with the city’s public transit authority announced it was suspending its month-long job action.
In a news release sent late Tuesday night, the union which represents 2,400 maintenance workers, said the suspension of the strike at the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) would take effect as of Wednesday at 6 a.m.
“Although there’s been significant movement on the union’s part to help reach a deal, the STM is still inflexible and insensitive to the effects of the strike on the population,” states the release from the Syndicat du transport de Montréal.
“Our union is not insensitive and it’s suspending the strike in order to continue negotiations while aiming for public transit to be financed in a fair way that can maintain good working conditions for the STM’s 2,400 maintenance workers.”
Law 14, which was known as Bill 89 when it was tabled at the National Assembly, gives the provincial government the ability to step in and end strikes when they affect an essential service for Quebecers. It also introduces “well-being” as a criteria in the determination of essential services by the labour tribunal.
Quebec Labour Minister Jean Boulet planned to table a bill Wednesday morning to give the government the power to apply Law 14 before it was supposed to take effect on Nov. 30.
In its statement, the union said the minister’s plan hurt its ability to negotiate with the STM, saying the Coalition Avenir Québec government made it easier for the transit authority to “not budge” on the negotiation front.
“The STM no longer had any incentive to negotiate with us,” reads a statement from union president Bruno Jeannotte.
WATCH | Fact-checking your comments about the strike:
We fact-checked your comments about Montreal’s transit strike
Montrealers have a lot to say about the ongoing STM strike. But how much of that is accurate? We cleared some things up.
Major disruptions to Montrealers’ commutes
Contract disputes between the STM and two unions have upended Montrealers’ commutes several times this year.
The latest strike by the maintenance workers, which lasted a month before it was called off, was the union’s third work stoppage this year. The workers went on strike for nine days in June and for two weeks in late September.
The latest job action reduced bus and Metro service to morning and afternoon rush-hours as well as a late-night time window between 11 p.m. and around 1 a.m.
On Nov. 1, a separate union, one that represents bus drivers and Metro operators, went on strike for the first time in nearly 40 years. That one-day strike led to a total shutdown of bus and Metro service.
That union, the Syndicat canadien de la fonction publique (SCFP 2850), plans to go on strike on Saturday and Sunday.
A labour tribunal was expected to issue a ruling this week on the service levels for those two days.
In recent days, calls for the strike to end had grown louder, with frustrated commuters, Montreal’s business community and the city’s incoming mayor — Soraya Martinez Ferrada — all weighing in.
“I am pleased that the STM maintenance workers have accepted my request for a pause in their strike action. The impact on the daily lives of Montrealers was becoming unbearable,” the city’s next mayor wrote in a social media post.
Martinez Ferrada is expected to speak to reporters on Wednesday morning.