Montreal bus service will worsen as STM maintenance workers’ overtime strike progresses, transit agency says

Montreal’s public transit agency is warning the month-long maintenance workers’ strike, which began Thursday morning, will keep impacting the city’s bus network the longer the strike goes.

The fourth phase of job action by the 2,400 maintenance employees at the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), which is centered on the workers’ refusal to work overtime, got underway at 12:01 a.m. It’s set to continue until Jan. 11 at 11:59 p.m. if an agreement is not reached with their employer before then.

The STM says the bus network will be impacted due to a growing shortage of vehicles that cannot be repaired, especially as the strike enters the new year.

“Out-of-commission buses over the next few weeks, based on a range of different factors, including equipment failures, weather, and productivity in our garages, will increase up to 250 buses that will be out of commission and out of the fleet, out of the 1,840 buses that we currently have,” explained Katherine Roux Groleau, the STM’s director of public affairs.

“This could lead up to reaching 40 per cent in January, and usually out-of-commission buses we are looking at a range of 15 to 17 per cent.”

Groleau says which bus trips get cancelled each day will be decided by the STM’s operation managers “based on various factors” like relief points for drivers, route length, and bus positioning in the garages.

“Let’s be clear, it’s not the type of strike that we are usually dealing with, so we will be learning along the way as the strike progresses,” she said.

“Fewer buses will be available to deliver the planned service in the coming weeks, especially early January.”

Groleau warns bus service will only resume gradually once the maintenance workers are back on the job.

“Going back to normal will take several weeks because of the maintenance overtime strike,” she said. “We will be adjusting the service proactively and will decide along the way if we reduce the service and will communicate to our riders and customers ahead of time. If it does happen, we’ll keep them informed as quickly as possible.”

The STM says paratransit service will not be affected. Metro service is expected to be maintained “at 100 per cent at all times during the strike, thanks to a reserve capacity of available vehicles,” the STM said.

The CSN-affiliated union previously walked off the job in June, again in September and October, and a third time in November.

On Wednesday, Quebec’s Administrative Labour Tribunal ruled that the essential services planned for the strike, including during statutory holidays, were sufficient.

Arbitration forthcoming?

At issue in this strike is overtime work, with the STM saying it requires hundreds of overtime hours from its maintenance workers every week to get the buses out and on schedule. The transit agency says that’s a byproduct of the very collective agreement that’s being renegotiated, because it currently stipulates that work must always be done by “the right person at the right place at the right time.”

“It’s part of our collective agreement and that is why we are trying to negotiate and modernize our collective agreement and working conditions so we don’t rely so heavily on overtime,” Groleau said.

“This is currently being discussed with the union as we speak.”

Groleau says the STM has tabled several offers to the union that included compromises.

“We want to reach the ultimate agreement because a negotiated agreement is better for both parties,” she said. “That being said, we understand that for our customers and riders, it has an impact. It is up to the union to end the strike because it is their strike.

“For us, it’s the last-chance discussions that are currently happening. And so arbitration would be the next chapter, not only for employees, but also to minimize the impact on our customers.”

–With files from The Canadian Press