Montreal bus, metro services reduced during upcoming 9-day strike
Posted June 3, 2025 8:50 am.
Last Updated June 3, 2025 6:39 pm.
Public transportation in the city is expected to face significant disruptions due to the strike by Société de transport de Montréal (STM) maintenance workers, scheduled for June 9 to 17, unless an agreement is reached between their union and management.
The operating schedules of the metro and bus network will be significantly modified.
“We want more security for our members,” said Frederic Therrien, president, Syndicat SCFP Section Locale 1983, representing the bus drivers and metro operators at the STM. Members of the union will reduce their services to add more pressure during the strike. “We want better work-family services and better schedules. We want to be respected and paid according to the expectations put on us.”
“We are the largest transportation company in Quebec, the STM, but we want to be recognized as A1 workers,” Therrien added.
STM maintenance employees will continue to provide a minimum level of cleaning service during their strike. The offer of essential services was approved by the Administrative Labour Tribunal (TAT) in a decision rendered Monday.
“We want to offer to our customer a good service,” said STM board member Eric Caldwell. “We want to offer to our workers a good working environment. We’re dealing with a situation where we have to fit into the money that is available for transit and that’s why there is a negotiation on both parts, and we salute the fact that the tribunal is giving us the essential services.”
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante urged the STM and the union to work together.
“Because everybody’s losing in that,” she said. “I mean, the biggest loser in all this is really the people that use the public transit.
“As mayor, I’m worried of course because I truly believe that public transit is essential for a lot of people to go around and we want to encourage people to take public transit. And the time where we have, we’re dealing with financial issues regarding public transit, it is also problematic. So all that together, there’s a negotiation happening … we need to come up with a solution fast.”
For the first three days of the strike, June 9, 10, and 11, buses and metros will only run during morning and afternoon rush hours, as well as in the late evening. There will be no service outside of these periods.
On June 12, service will be provided at 100 per cent during peak periods, which will be extended by one hour, and at 50 per cent outside of these periods.
“The court has decided that it will be assured during rush hours, which is better than what we’ve seen in other cities, but we’re hoping we can go back to business as soon as we can,” Mayor Plante said.
During the Formula 1 Grand Prix, which will take place from June 13 to 15, service will be maintained at its usual level. In their agreement submitted to the Administrative Labour Tribunal, both parties acknowledged that this event significantly increases public transit ridership.
Finally, on June 16 and 17, service will be provided at 100 per cent during peak periods and 50 per cent outside of them, but rush hours will be maintained.
The Syndicat du transport de Montréal represents 2,400 members at the STM, including mechanics and maintenance workers. Their president, Bruno Jeannotte, says they’ve been fighting to keep their services public and improve their working conditions with the STM since last March.
“Public services belong to the public. They’re for you,” said Jeannotte. “If we have a 50-year-old metro, it’s because we ran it and meticulously maintained it. We hope people will understand that the union is currently pushing to keep our services public, maintain control over the quality we provide, and not subcontract our services, which will lead to a decline in the quality and reliability of services provided by the STM.”
[Info grève] Le @tat_gouvqc a approuvé les services essentiels convenus entre la STM et le syndicat des employés d'entretien (CSN) dans le cadre de leur grève du 9 au 17 juin inclusivement.
— STM (@stm_nouvelles) June 2, 2025
Détails : https://t.co/BCrjwsJHiA
???? Grand Prix : service régulier les 13, 14 et 15 juin. pic.twitter.com/4i5eueYiEu
This is the union’s second attempt at striking, after the tribunal prevented it from carrying out its strike as planned on May 25.
The Maintenance Employees’ Union then wanted to shut down the metro completely during that day, offering no essential metro services, only buses. The TAT had rejected the offer, deeming the provision of essential services insufficient in this case.
The Fédération des employés des services publics union, affiliated with the CSN, represents approximately 2,400 maintenance workers.
Negotiations are actively continuing with the union, which is raising several points of contention, including the creation of atypical schedules—evenings, nights, and weekends—the possibility of moving employees from one facility to another, as well as the use of subcontracting and privatization.
– With files from La Presse Canadienne
