STM, maintenance workers reach tentative agreement

Passengers board the Montreal Metro.

The Société de transport de Montréal (STM) and the union representing its 2,400 maintenance workers have reached a tentative agreement, the public transit company announced Tuesday.

The STM confirmed that the agreement in principle was reached during the night following a mediator-conciliator’s recommendations.

• READ MORE: STM, maintenance workers’ union return to contract talks

“After a final round of conciliation and a last-minute push in the final days, we have reached a tentative agreement that is responsible and involves compromise on both sides,” said Marie-Claude Léonard, CEO of the STM. “I would like to thank all the teams that have been involved in these negotiations for nearly two years, as well as the mediator-conciliator working on this case.”

The STM’s board of directors now has to ratify the agreement.

The workers’ union, affiliated with the Confédération des syndicats nationaux through the Fédération des employé(e)s de services publics (FEESP-CSN), is also expected to gather its members for a general assembly to vote on the new collective agreement, in accordance with deadlines and procedures in its bylaws and regulations.

• READ MORE: More than just pay: Why are STM workers striking for nearly a month?

“I am pleased that the maintenance employees and the STM have reached a tentative agreement,” said Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada. “It is Montrealers who will benefit from an efficient, stable and predictable service, while respecting taxpayers’ ability to pay. I am also pleased that both parties worked hard to reach an agreement.”

No information regarding the terms of the tentative agreement has been disclosed as the board of directors and union members have yet to adopt it.

Long negotiations

The maintenance workers’ union and the STM have been negotiating for two years, having already undergone six months of mediation and a previous conciliation phase, both of which were unsuccessful.

By mid-February, the two sides had already held 138 bargaining sessions.

• READ MORE: Montreal transit strike could be first test of new Quebec labour law

The dispute centred mainly around the issue of subcontracting, with the STM saying it wanted more flexibility and lower costs as the union sought to protect its members’ jobs and preserve public services.

During negotiations, the union held four strikes — the first last June, the second in September and October, a third in November and a fourth spanning December and January.

The STM has already reached agreements with three other major unions, two locals of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), affiliated with the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ), and a local of the Syndicat professionnel du Québec (SEPB), also affiliated with the FTQ.

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Those unions represent the agency’s 4,500 bus drivers and Metro operators, its 1,300 administrative and technical employees and 800 professionals.

With files from The Canadian Press.