Montreal’s blue-collar workers on 24-hour strike, essential services maintained

Montreal’s approximately 6,000 blue-collar workers are holding their first day of strike action on Wednesday, in the Ville-Marie borough.

Essential services are being maintained, but some impact on the public is still expected.

Blue-collar workers, members of a local branch of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), affiliated with the FTQ, began their strike at 6:00 a.m. Wednesday. It will continue until 5:59 a.m. Thursday.

Due to this work stoppage, there will be no household waste collection, no recycling collection, and no composting.

The Administrative Labour Tribunal ruled that the absence of garbage and recyclable/compostable material collection for 24 hours in winter “does not threaten public health or safety.”

Road repair operations will be limited to potholes and subsidence deemed “major”.

The agreement on essential services reached between the two parties, which was ratified by the Administrative Labour Tribunal, stipulates that street cleaning may take place in the event of an accident.

For the various operations related to snow and ice, abrasives and snow removal, the agreement is quite precise.

It provides for “the spreading of abrasives and de-icing agents on sidewalks, bike paths and roadways as soon as the weather report announces a trace of 1 centimeter or more, or as needed, depending on weather conditions, including monthly spreading teams for buildings and public places.”For clearing, it stipulates that “clearing operations on sidewalks and roadways with an incline of 7 per cent and more will be ensured in the event of an accumulation of snow of 2.5 centimetres and more”.

As for snow removal, it is expected to begin once an accumulation of 17.5 centimeters is reached. According to the weather forecast, this scenario is unlikely to occur on Wednesday.

The striking blue-collar workers are not only working in snow removal, but also in parks, water services, supplies, street maintenance, workshops and at Espace pour la vie, among other places.

Their collective agreement expired on December 31, 2024.

The dispute centers primarily on salary increases.

“In recent years, blue-collar workers have lost between 6 and 7 per cent of their purchasing power, not only is the City not offering us a catch-up, but it is instead proposing a financial framework that would impoverish us even more. I repeat: we will not negotiate our own impoverishment,” said Jean-Pierre Lauzon.

“We tried other pressure tactics before getting to this point to continue to provide a complete service to citizens, but if the City maintains a hard line that jeopardizes the purchasing power of thousands of workers, we will have no choice but to make ourselves heard,” added the union president.

The City is facing a difficult financial situation; the union argues that the City’s current financial framework is leading blue-collar workers to impoverishment.

The union says they are fully available to negotiate and will not lose sight of the primary objective, which is to reach a tentative agreement quickly.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews