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.

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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.

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