STM weekend strike averted: Last-minute deal reached with bus drivers and metro operators’ union
Posted November 14, 2025 7:48 pm.
Last Updated November 15, 2025 1:48 pm.
The STM will be fully operational this weekend for Montreal commuters, after a last-minute agreement ‘in principle’ was reached Friday night between management and the union representing 4,500 bus drivers and metro operators.
This means that the STM will be in service as normal Saturday and Sunday.
In a press release Friday evening, the union representing 4,500 bus drivers, metro operators, (SCFP 1983), said that it had reached an in-principle agreement with the STM around 7 p.m. avoiding the planned strike for Nov. 15 and 16, after seven days of intensive negotiations.
“Our goal was to reach a negotiated agreement, and we have achieved that. Now it will be up to the members to vote on the agreement through the democratic structures provided for in our bylaws and regulations,” said Frederic Therrien, president of SCFP 1983.
The union adds that no further comments will be made at this time on the content of the agreement so that members are the first to be informed. The consultation process will begin as soon as possible, and all members will be asked to vote on this new collective agreement by the end of the year.
“We have reached a tentative agreement that includes compromises on all sides and, most importantly, respects the established financial framework,” said Marie-Claude Léonard, CEO of the STM. “I want to thank all the teams for their work. This important milestone also means that we will be able to avoid another strike and significant impacts on the public, as requested by Mayor Martinez Ferrada.”
The STM said that its board of directors will still need to ratify the deal and declined to share further details.
Montreal’s new mayor, Soraya Martinez Ferrada, welcomed the agreement.
“I would like to highlight the intensive negotiation work carried out by the drivers’ union and the STM in recent hours to reach an agreement,” she wrote on social media.
The day after her election on Nov. 2, Martinez Ferrada expressed her wish that an agreement be reached before Nov. 15 in order to avoid a full-blown strike.
Negotations with maintenance workers’ union ongoing
Meanwhile, mediation with the maintenance union continues. “STM remains fully committed to the mediation process and hopes to reach an agreement that addresses its need for flexibility while respecting its ability to pay and its unprecedented current financial context,” said management in the press release Friday night.
On Friday morning, that union said there was no news for the moment and that negotiations were still taking place.
Service gradually returned to normal on Wednesday after the maintenance workers’ union, which had been on strike since Nov. 1, suspended its strike in anticipation of government intervention.
The union, Syndicat du transport de Montréal-CSN representing 2,400 maintenance workers, began a strike on the evening of Oct. 31. It was scheduled to continue until Nov. 28, before being suspended late Tuesday evening, after a dozen days of walkouts, with only essential services provided during rush hour.
The STM said that the three offers, including salary improvements along with cost-saving measures, were rejected by the maintenance workers union. But, added that negotiations were ongoing.
“Even though those offers were rejected, we’re not giving up,” the STM said. “A negotiated agreement remains the best outcome for everyone. We are still in mediation. We’ll reassess the situation at the end of the mediation period which is Nov. 28.”
Fourth union goes on strike
On Friday, the Labour tribunal (TAT) ratified an agreement on essential services that had been reached between the STM and another union that announced a strike day on Nov. 19.
This time, it is the union of administrative, technical and professional staff of the STM that will strike.
The agreement on essential services reached between the parties stipulates that 33 employees from all job categories will provide essential services, either on-site or remotely.
This union, which is also a local branch of the CUPE, affiliated with the FTQ, just like the union that represents bus drivers and metro operators, has 1,316 members.
-With files from The Canadian Press
