STM: professionals’ union plans to adopt strike mandate

Another union is reporting difficult negotiations with the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), to the point where it’s considering issuing a strike mandate this fall – a first for its members.

The Syndicat des professionnels de la STM, which represents engineers, architects, lawyers, analysts, communications advisors, and others, is the local of the Syndicat des employés professionnels et de bureau (SEPB) – affiliated with the FTQ – and has 800 members.

Unlike the STM bus drivers and metro operators and maintenance workers’ unions, which already have a strike mandate, the professionals’ union “does not yet have one.”

But the situation could change this fall, union president Marc Glogowski warned in an interview Thursday. “This has never happened to us, and this union has existed for 30 years. There has never been a strike mandate before,” he said. The possibility of obtaining a strike mandate is “being discussed more and more among our members. It could be quite serious this fall. “We’re thinking about it,” reports the union president.

A possible strike mandate wouldn’t necessarily mean an indefinite strike.

“We’re perhaps moving towards a strike mandate. Will it be a one-day strike? It probably won’t be an indefinite strike. That’s perhaps not what we’re going for. Perhaps we’d seek a Ten-day strike mandate, which we could choose ad hoc, at the right time,” explains Glogowski.

The dispute concerns the use of subcontractors and job security clauses, he reports.

STM management confirms that “indeed, the terms governing the use of external professional services for certain projects and the clause prohibiting lifetime layoffs are among the major points we are negotiating.”

The negotiations are “progressing at a snail’s pace,” despite having begun last September, the union asserts. STM management, on the other hand, maintains that they are “progressing smoothly” and that “the majority of demands have been addressed at the negotiating tables.”

The collective agreement expired last January.

The next negotiation meeting will take place in two weeks, before a one-month break. The STM notes, however, that it is “at the union’s request that the negotiating table is on hold for the summer, even though we had proposed meeting dates during this period.”

STM management reiterates that it is in a tight financial situation. “These collective agreement negotiations are taking place in a unique context where the STM is experiencing a period of great change and where it must be cost-effective. Last year’s MTMD (Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility) performance audit clearly demonstrated this.”

“We will actively continue our discussions at the bargaining table to agree on working conditions that will both motivate our employees and respect the STM’s financial capacity. We face the challenge of remaining competitive to attract and retain the best talent in a context of transformation and improvement of our performance,” added the transit authority’s management.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews