In addition to the education strike that took place in November and December, 15,000 children are still affected by a strike by school bus drivers at Transco in Montreal.
The strike will soon be three months old. It was launched on October 31 by the union which represents 350 drivers employed by Autobus Transco.
The affected school boards are English Montreal and Lester B. Pearson, as well as the Marguerite-Bourgeoys School Service Center, the Montreal School Service Center and the Sainte-Anne private college.
The heart of the dispute concerns the remuneration of bus drivers.
The Quebec government has already granted additional financial assistance to school transportation companies to help them increase salaries, in particular, but also to compensate for higher rents, the increase in insurance costs and the electrification of the school fleet. bus, for example.
The two parties do not agree on what portion of this additional aid from Quebec should be paid to drivers.
Claude Breton, spokesperson for Autobus Transco, reports that the employer offered a 20% increase for the first year and 33% for the six-year contract and that the union rejected everything.
Carole Laplante, president of the union, which is attached to the Federation of Public Service Employees, affiliated with the CSN, confirms the rejection and judges that these increases are insufficient, because Transco would have granted more to other of its drivers in other regions.
“We go there with the employer’s ability to pay. It’s really insufficient. In all his other divisions, he gave between 46 and 52 or 53%, so why would we be inferior? I don’t understand,” she replies.
Mr. Breton responds that Transco has gone to the limit of what it could offer. “At 33%, we have already stretched the elastic enormously. There is no way to go further without affecting the financial viability of the agreements. »
Transco offered to submit the dispute to an arbitrator, a neutral third party who would have decided, reports Mr. Breton.
The union refused. “We still have to fight. We are ready to negotiate again,” replies Mme The plant.
The conflict will likely be brought before the Administrative Labor Tribunal, the union having filed complaints of obstruction and bad faith negotiation against the employer.