If the government does not include public transit again in essential services, it is not only the City of Quebec that will be faced with “a chaotic situation” during a strike by the employees of a company. public transport, warns the mayor of the capital, Bruno Marchand.
No essential service is provided by the Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC) after the Administrative Labor Tribunal ruled that the health and safety of the public are not put at risk by the strike, a decision castigated by the elected official who, on the third day of the strike, is already talking about a situation that is “no longer viable” and “very problematic”.
“This question of essential services is surreal,” he said during a press briefing on Monday. That today we don’t have a public transit system that can be provided as an essential service is problematic.
“Yet during the pandemic, it was considered an essential service, also recalled Mr. Marchand. Two years later, it is no longer. The government must do a job differently with its law, that’s for sure. »
Many citizens need the service to go to the hospital for medical appointments, to pick up their medication at the pharmacy, to buy groceries or simply to get to work, says the mayor.
If it is too late for the City of Quebec, which must now come to terms with “a significant balance of power”, a change to the Act to amend the Labor Code concerning the maintenance of essential services in public services and in the public and parapublic sectors would prevent other municipalities from suffering the same fate.
“That public transit is not recognized as an essential service traps citizens who need it and we have our hands tied with a lack of service which makes the situation even more chaotic,” said Mr. Marchand. .
“The case in point that we are experiencing here will not be unique to Quebec,” he added. Longueuil, Laval, Lévis or Montreal, other cities, like Rimouski, which have public transport services, will find themselves in the same situation if the employees of the transport companies decide to go on strike. »
Resumption of negotiations
The RTC and the drivers’ union are to meet at the negotiating table on Tuesday morning in the hope of reaching an agreement.
The president of the RTC, Maude Mercier-Larouche, says she is confident of reaching an agreement. “We are not camped in our positions, at the moment, she indicated during the press briefing on Monday. There is still a desire to continue our negotiations and reach an agreement. »
Without going into details, the president however confirmed that the negotiations stumble when the time comes to discuss the salary increases desired by the drivers.
However, Quebec is not ready to consent to this request. The ability of taxpayers to pay must be taken into consideration, indicated Ms. Mercier-Larouche and Mr. Marchand.
“The challenge is not to judge whether the demands of our drivers are crazy or not crazy, it’s to find a balance between our ability to pay, according to our budgets and our ability to give our drivers the salary they deserve and to which they are entitled”, nuanced the mayor, recalling that the City of Quebec is “the one that contributes the most financially to its public transport network”.
“When the opposition tells us to pay, that we can settle the conflict by snapping our fingers and untying the purse strings, it is choosing that citizens pay without wondering if it is realistic”, a- he added.
On Saturday, 935 RTC bus drivers went on strike.
Only paratransit, Flexibus and àVélo services are available during the strike, while users try to help each other on social networks to get around. In addition, the very popular Festival d’été de Québec will begin on Thursday.
The Réseau de transport de la Capitale serves a population of 580,000 inhabitants.
This dispatch was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta Exchange and The Canadian Press for the news.