Government threatens Montreal transit strike, workers retreat

Published before the end of the strike. See the update from the morning of November 12.

After 11 days of strikes at the STM, Montreal‘s politicians and economic elite are getting restless. Even though bus and metro service continues during rush hour, many are talking about the “population being held hostage.” For his part, Labour Minister Jean Boulet wants to speed up the adoption of a controversial law to end the conflict as early as Thursday.

“If we have another strike on Black Friday, tens and hundreds of millions will be lost downtown,” said Paul-André Goulet, owner of ten Sports Experts stores and vice-president of the lobby group “Montréal centre-ville,” on Sunday.

In this context, Minister Boulet wants to bring forward the entry into force of Bill 14, which is supposed to “give greater consideration to the needs of the population in the event of a strike or lockout.” Widely contested by unions and civil society, Bill 14 could be imposed as early as Thursday if the minister decides to bring a closure motion.

Closure is an exceptional procedure that requires the National Assembly to vote on a bill within 14 hours, even without the agreement of the opposition parties. The Parti Québécois and the Liberal Party support the Labour Minister’s proposal.

Angry workers

In front of the Crémazie workshop, Steve Rochon, union director with the STM maintenance workers’ union, protests: “It’s just limiting our freedom of expression!”

Bill 14 is “oppression of the population,” he says. “It limits people’s freedom of expression, prevents them from acting on their principles, and prevents them from moving forward in life. It’s dictatorship.”

And what will happen when the law comes into effect? “We’ll just have to shut up and go back to work,” he says. “They’ll dictate what we do, they’ll dictate what we think, and they’ll use the media to fill our heads with whatever crap they want.” 

A battle for the general public

“We’re trying to defend our jobs. But we also want to make the public understand that what they’re experiencing right now, if it continues, could become the norm.”

However, Rochon is not talking about strikes. Instead, he is denouncing the STM and the governments, which are increasingly relying on subcontracting and have already ceded the division of transportation for people with reduced mobility to private interests. 

Last year, the province’s former Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault stated that she considered the STM’s spending to be abnormal “and that it was still operating on a deficit basis.” Rochon rejects this logic: “Right now, it’s a service that the public pays for in the same way as hospitals.” 

The provincial government is currently waging an offensive against STM workers, whom it considers overpaid. They are basing their argument on a controversial report by Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton, which blames salaries for the network’s financial difficulties and recommends bringing more private interest into public transit.

“Why are we always talking about this in the media?” exclaims Rochon. “Why are we still levelling down, towards our salaries of $80,000 or $90,000 per year [with several years of seniority], instead of looking up?”

He adds, “I’m not the one earning $465,000 and voting myself a 6.5% annual raise. I’m not the MNA who gave himself a 30% raise. We don’t talk about them, we always talk about the little guy at the bottom. But we’re the ones doing the work. It’s not them.”

Steve Rochon points out that STM employees are also fighting for decent working conditions. Currently, workers can be forced to work night shifts for nearly 10 years, be forced to work weekends, and have their shifts cut in half, separated by several hours.

“You know, when I joined the STM 20 years ago, I earned more, houses cost less, and a pound of butter was cheaper. Today, we no longer have the same purchasing power we used to have. People need to stop lowering their standards, and the entire population needs to raise its standards. […] We’re going to fight this battle to the end.”

Update:

The union ended the strike late on Tuesday evening, May 11. In a press release, Bruno Jeannotte, president of the Syndicat du transport de Montréal–CSN, stated: “We were certain that we had a window of opportunity for a resolution. Minister Boulet and the CAQ government gave the STM additional arguments to remain entrenched.”

“The government is undermining our negotiations by underfunding public transit. It is adding to the problem with the introduction of Bill 14. By suspending the strike, we want to ensure that the bill is not applied immediately and we want to continue to work at the table and reach a negotiated agreement.”

However, Jean Boulet still tabled his bill this morning, November 12, in order to preempt Bill 14. Nothing is stopping him from using closure to get it passed.