Montreal transit strike: Weekend shutdown looms as drivers plan job action

The relief Montreal commuters felt Wednesday won’t last for long as the transit network will grind to a halt this weekend.

The union representing the Montreal Transit Corporation’s 4,500 bus drivers and subway operators was given the go-ahead late Wednesday for a strike beginning at 4 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 15 and ending at 3:59 a.m. Monday, Nov. 17.

Barring a last-minute deal, there will be no bus or metro service during that time.

The approval from Quebec’s labour tribunal late Wednesday came hours after a strike by the transit agency’s 2,400 maintenance workers – the third so far this year – ended without an agreement in place.

Talk remains ongoing, STM CEO Marie-Claude Léonard said in a statement.

The strike’s end came ahead of Labour Minister Jean Boulet tabling legislation that would fast-track the application of a law to give the Quebec government greater power to intervene in labour disputes. The law was originally supposed to take effect on Nov. 30.

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The law, adopted in the spring, gives the labour minister the power to end a dispute by imposing binding arbitration when a strike or lockout is deemed harmful to the public. It also expands the kinds of services that must be maintained during a labour dispute to include those that ensure “the well-being of the population.”

Boulet said Wednesday that there was still a need to bring in the law early. However, he added the information he’s received “points to a strong reasonableness that there will be an agreement in principle” negotiated at the table.

— with files from The Canadian Press