The STM’s maintenance employees are set to go on strike yet again. The second strike this year is once again triggered by a dispute between the union and the STM about mandatory overtime hours and work-life balance for maintenance employees.
RELATED: Click to read our coverage of the May 2018 strike.
The strike is set to begin tomorrow (Aug. 18), and last until September 16. During that time, maintenance employees will continue coming to work, but will no longer work any overtime beyond their regular 40-hour work week.
Like last time, this strike is expected to cause some service disruptions, as certain buses will stay out of service for longer than normal. The resulting drop in number of buses on the roads is expected to disrupt services to a certain extent, the STM warned. In fact, they said disruptions from the strike last May are still being felt. That strike was only one week long, and now the union is gearing up for a month-long strike.
The strike will mean service reductions on certain lines. The STM’s transit system is already under high pressure during the late summer and early fall. The impact could continue to be felt even after the end of the overtime strike, given the backlog of work that will have to be done. The one-week strike in May deprived transit users of over 500 hours of peak-period service and obliged the STM to keep 57 buses in the garage that should have been on the road.
Meanwhile, the STM requested on August 15th for a government-mandated mediator to step in and help move negotiations along.