(Quebec) The other cities of Quebec and in particular the metropolis are not immune to a strike which completely paralyzes its public transport, warned Monday Bruno Marchand, on the third day of a conflict which hits hard many users. of the capital.
“The case in point that we are experiencing here will not be unique to Quebec. Montreal, Laval, Longueuil or Rimouski will find themselves in the same situation, ”warned the mayor of Quebec during a press briefing on Monday. “We cannot have zero public transport. For three days it is complicated. Imagine if it lasts. »
The 935 drivers of the Capital Transport Network (RTC) went on strike last Saturday, until July 16. All regular bus services in Quebec have therefore been stopped for three days. The City fears the impacts on regular users, but also on the thousands of occasional users during the Festival d’été de Québec (FEQ), which will take place from July 6 to 16.
This drivers’ strike is unique insofar as they are not required to provide an essential service as in previous disputes. Changes made by the Legault government in 2019 mean that it is now the Administrative Labor Tribunal (TAT) that must decide whether public transport is an essential service.
PHOTO COUNCIL CENTRAL OF QUEBEC CHAUDIÈRE-APPALACHES – CSN
Members of the Union of Public Transport Employees of Metropolitan Quebec have begun a strike that will continue until July 16 inclusively, unless an agreement is reached by then.
Administrative judge Pierre-Étienne Morand ruled on June 9 that they were not. “The public transport service provided by RTC drivers does not constitute an ‘essential service’, in the sense that it is not a service whose interruption during the strike ‘may have the effect to endanger public health or safety,” he wrote in his decision.
“No essential service, it’s chaotic,” retorts Bruno Marchand. “Next time it will be other cities with the same problem. What does it matter, no essential service? It traps citizens, it significantly unbalances the balance of power. »
The Quebec Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIQ) urges the two parties to reach an agreement as soon as possible. Some employers in the region have to pay for taxis for their employees. “It can help out for a few days because it must not continue,” said CCIQ CEO Steeve Lavoie.
“This strike affects all spheres of society, from the beneficiary attendant who has to treat people to the machinist who has to go to the factory. Myself, I have an employee who does not have a driver’s license,” says Mr. Lavoie.
A salary issue
Mayor Marchand confirms that the salary offer is at the heart of the problem. According to him, the RTC has tabled a “serious” offer, but cannot afford to accede to union demands. “Is it realistic for the citizens, for the RTC budget? The answer is no,” he says. “We have to find a balance between our ability to pay […] and the ability to give drivers the wages they deserve. »
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand
The union recalls that its drivers have been without a contract for a year. “We have made the necessary efforts to reach an agreement, but unfortunately the clock has struck,” says Hélène Fortin, president of the Union of Public Transport Employees of Metropolitan Quebec.
The City has not publicly disclosed its offer or the union its demands. Negotiations should resume on Tuesday, and will be crucial for the FEQ. Many festival-goers normally use a shuttle service offered by the RTC.
Bruno Marchand thinks that an agreement can still occur before the start of the festival. “We are working very hard on it. The RTC and the union too I think,” he says.
Revise the law?
The mayor of Quebec thinks that the government will have no choice but to review its law. “Changing the law will have no effect this time around. But the government will have no choice,” he believes. “This issue of essential services is surreal. That in 2023 we do not have a public transport system provided by a minimum of essential service is problematic. »
The Minister of Labor, Jean Boulet, did not want to react on Monday. But his cabinet said it will do so on Tuesday.
In the past, the Government of Quebec has adopted decrees ordering the maintenance of essential services in the event of a strike in public transport in Quebec, Montreal, Laval and Longueuil.
But amendments to the Labor Code made in 2019 stipulate that it is now the TAT which must determine whether to provide essential services in the event of a strike.
Before the TAT, the City of Quebec had argued that bus users could not go to their medical appointments, or that a strike would significantly increase traffic congestion, hampering ambulances and patrol cars. The administrative judge was not convinced.
“Certainly, a strike by bus drivers will cause inconvenience, inconvenience, trouble for the general public of the national capital and its outskirts, but the strike is precisely intended to disturb, it must be remembered”, wrote- he in his decision.