Metro and bus service in Montreal will be disrupted nearly every day this November due to a transit strike, with municipal election day this Sunday being no exception.
It was already known roughly 2,400 maintenance workers would be on strike between Oct. 31 and Nov. 28 — but up until recently it wasn’t known to what extent public transit would be disrupted.
In a decision rendered Wednesday, Quebec’s labour tribunal ruled metros and buses will only be available during rush hours throughout each day of the strike.
This wasn’t the case during the transit workers’ last strike in September and October, when it had ruled service would still be available during usual hours every Tuesday, Thursday and during weekends.
The transit agency in the city had requested service be extended on election day to ensure as many voters as possible could get to the polls, open between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m., but the labour tribunal didn’t agree.
“Contrary to what the STM maintains, when it comes to essential services, the tribunal’s role isn’t to weigh workers’ right to strike with citizens’ right to vote,” administrative judge François Beaubien wrote in his decision. “Rather, it must ensure that public health or safety isn’t endangered by the strike, by ensuring that essential services are maintained while infringing as little as possible on the right to strike.”
The transit agency shared its paratransit bus service will continue to operate as usual during the month of November.
This is the maintenance union’s third strike since this June.
Another representing its bus and metro drivers has also announced its workers will engage in strike action for three days in November as well, on Nov. 1, this Saturday, as well as on Nov. 15 and 16.
The labour tribunal will also have to determine to what extent those roughly 4,500 workers will be able to disrupt metro and bus service.
In a statement issued to public, the transit agency said it anticipates learning the tribunal’s decision before the end of the week.
