Montreal transit strike could be first test of new Quebec labour law
Global News
A strike that is upending public transit in Montreal could be the first test of a new law that gives the Quebec government broad power to end labour disputes.
A strike that is upending public transit in Montreal could be the first test of a new law that gives the Quebec government broad power to end labour disputes.
The Montreal transit agency’s 2,400 maintenance workers launched a strike last week that could last for most of November. The work stoppage — the third so far this year — has limited bus and subway service in the city to peak hours.
Political leaders are urging the two sides to resolve a dispute that has dragged on for months. But the workers union is accusing the transit agency of waiting out the clock until a new labour law, adopted in the spring, takes effect at the end of November.
The law gives Quebec’s 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.”
“In other words, clearly, from now on, employers will no longer be under pressure to settle,” said Bertrand Guibord, an official with the union representing the transit workers, during a press conference on Monday.
“They will sit on their hands and wait for the situation to become chaotic or unmanageable before the ministry intervenes and puts an end to the work stoppage.”
Barry Eidlin, an associate professor of sociology at McGill University and an expert on labour movements, said the Quebec law is “an existential threat to unions.” He said it bears some similarity to a section of the Canada Labour Code that has been used repeatedly by the federal government in the last year to end strikes at ports, railway companies and Canada Post.
Both laws give ministers “tremendous discretion” to intervene in labour disputes without “a lot of checks and balances in place,” he said.
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