STM bus drivers, metro operators to strike Nov. 1, 15 and 16: union

The STM’s 4,500 bus drivers and metro operators have sent a strike notice for three days in November.

The unionized employees are scheduled to walk off the job Nov. 1, 15 and 16. Paratransit service will continue to operate.

It would be the first such strike involving Montreal’s bus drivers and metro operators in nearly 40 years.

“We gave negotiations every possible chance,” said Frédéric Therrien, president of the affected local of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), affiliated with the FTQ. “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.

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.”

In a statement to CityNews, the STM says it is “firmly committed to reaching an agreement to avoid a strike.”

Last week, the union launched a billboard campaign warning the public: “Buses and metro soon on strike. Thank you, STM.”

The last strike by bus drivers and metro operators at the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) was in 1987.

Meanwhile maintenance workers at the STM are set to strike for the third time this year — starting the night of Oct. 31 and set to last until Nov. 28. The two other strikes were held from June 9 to 17, and from Sept. 22 to Oct. 5.

STM director general Marie-Claude Léonard will hold a press conference Thursday at 11 a.m. to provide an update on the negotiations with the multiple unions.