STM cuts 300 jobs; seeks mediation with unions, as two strikes loom

The Société de transport de Montréal (STM) announced that it will eliminate 300 jobs and that it has asked the labour department to appoint a mediator in its negotiations with the unions representing bus drivers and metro operators to avoid a strike.

On Wednesday, the chapter of Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE 1983) announced roughly 4,500 transit workers including bus and metro drivers intend to strike on Nov. 1, 15 and 16.

“It will impact some of our employees but for those that are impacted, they’ll be reassigned to new positions,” said Katherine Roux Groleau, the director of public affairs, partner relations, and communications for STM.

“The vast majority of those positions are at the moment vacant or linked to other decisions that we have previously announced such as paratransit system that will now be offered by a third party as of January.”

They will join roughly 2,400 transit agency maintenance workers who have announced they plan to go on strike for most of November — their third strike since June.

The transit agency’s general director Marie-Claude Léonard told a news conference Thursday morning that the layoffs were to find savings of $56 million in the 2026 budget, of which 70 per cent was employee salaries alone, she added.

She said that a big portion of the 300 jobs that were eliminated were already vacant.

She said the STM is seeking mediation with bus and metro drivers because it wants to “do everything” it can to avoid another strike.

Frédéric Therrien, the president of STM bus and metro operators with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), said, “We have always been able to negotiate with the employer, but now we see that this year, the STM has decided to maintain certain positions that were unacceptable to us.”

Adding, “The lack of funding is artificially created. The stm has never been profitable. It is a service to the public.”

In a press release Thursday morning the STM also said, “According to the Act respecting the system of collective agreement negotiation and dispute resolution in the municipal sector, following a period of 150 days from the expiry of the collective agreement and the possibility of requesting a 30-day extension of negotiations, one of the parties may request the appointment of a mediator.”

Unions React

The union representing professional workers of the STM, Syndicat du personnel administratif, technique et professionnel du transport en commun (CUPE 2850), condemned the layoff announcements.

“What is the STM playing at?,” said Stéphane Lamont, president of CUPE 2850, “This is a flagrant lack of transparency and respect for workers.”

Lamont said that the news of job cuts set to begin in 2026 was causing great anxiety among its members. She said the STM should offer better salaries and working conditions to allow for hiring and retaining employees rather than outsourcing which could lead to “skyrocketing” costs, referring to the SAAQclic scandal.

“By eliminating positions, it is clear that the STM will privatize part of the work. However, in-house work is the best guarantee of sound management,” concluded the union president,” she added.

Bruno Jeannotte, president of Syndicat du transport de Montréal-CSN, said that the unions wanted to avoid a strike too, but that he STM management was being inflexible in the negotiations.

“After more than 115 negotiation meetings, we have to face facts: the only way to get the STM to budge is to keep up the pressure,” he said.

He criticized the layoffs and said that the workers were always made to bear the brunt of budget cuts whenever there is a difficult financial situation.

Negotiations

Meetings with the bus driver and metro operator union are ongoing and the STM adds that they are “fully mobilized to find solutions that will take into account the essential needs for flexibility and agility in the organization of work in order to ensure operational efficiency in the context of the difficult and unprecedented financial situation in which it finds itself.” 

“We gave negotiations every possible chance,” said Therrien on Wednesday. “We favoured all other imaginable pressure tactics. Despite our many long days of negotiations and some progress, it is clear that the employer is no longer seeking new solutions to find common ground.”

The union is asking for better work schedules and an end to unpaid work.

“If we were to fund those demands, we need to cut back bus service by 10 per cent and we’re not willing to go there,” said Roux Groleau.

While the union says it intends to keep negotiating “in the coming weeks,” Therrien warns if the first strike doesn’t produce results, there will be others.

“If we have to go to a general strike, we will,” he said. “It’s not normal that no bargaining table is resolved. The problem can’t be all the unions. There is only one common denominator here, and that is the STM.”

As talks drag on, Montrealers are gearing up for another round of transit disruptions.

“To go around with a car is just a nightmare and its polluting and expensive and does not add to the solution, so I hope that they will find a solution before the strike,” said one Montrealer CityNews spoke to.

Another saying, “Workers wouldn’t go on strike if they didn’t have any reason to.”

One Montrealer said, “I think when there’s no compromise coming from either side, it’s not easy for workers to be able to step back and say ‘Okay, I give up’ – they’re not going to roll over and just take that.”

While another said, “It’s obviously inconveniencing regular folk trying to get around but its not going to be an effective negotiating tactic if it isn’t inconveniencing people.”

Essential services

A strike notice must be filed with the Administrative Labour Tribunal (TAT) seven business days before a strike is held. The notice is to determine whether the level of essential services proposed by the union is sufficient to avoid endangering the health or safety of the population.

The STM will communicate any potential impacts on service as soon as the TAT has rendered its decision.
 
Commuters can consult the STM’s website for more.

— With files from The Canadian Press