Negotiations at STM: flexibility and lower costs are needed, says CEO

With less than two weeks to go before another strike by maintenance workers at the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), management is reiterating that it needs more flexibility from its employees and union demands that take into account the “unprecedented” financial situation facing the STM.

During a press conference on Tuesday, STM CEO Marie-Claude Léonard provided an update on the negotiations, as last week, the maintenance workers’ union announced another form of strike action, from Sept. 22 to Oct. 5.

This will take the form of a refusal to work overtime, in addition to causing some occasional service disruptions, but only during off-peak hours, the union said when it announced its new strike notice.

The same union, affiliated with the Fédération des employé(e)s des services publics, which is affiliated with the CSN, had already walked off the job from June 9 to 17—in a more conventional form of strike, with essential services maintained during rush hour.

The Administrative Labour Tribunal will have to rule again on the maintenance of essential services in response to this second strike notice. The decision is expected in the coming days.

In the meantime, Léonard argues that the STM is experiencing financial difficulties and, as a result, must find new ways to reduce its costs. “I need to have employees in the right place at the right time, in a context where we have to keep costs down,” she said.

She gave as an example the fact that maintenance employees were busy landscaping or snow removal rather than actually maintaining the metro and buses.

“For there to be an agreement, there has to be flexibility,” she concluded.

As for the refusal to work overtime by unionized maintenance workers, “we are making every effort to minimize the impact of these pressure tactics” on users, she assured.

She said she had learned lessons from the last strike by the same union members, which caused considerable confusion among users due to a lack of information about the times of the last trains, for example.

For his part, union president Bruno Jeannotte stated last week that, depending on the type of strike chosen, i.e., refusal to work overtime, “there will be days when there will be an impact on customers and days when there will not. It’s an alternating scenario.”

Both parties want to intensify the negotiation meetings. Wages and the use of subcontractors are the main issues in these negotiations.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews