A strike that has disrupted public transit in Montreal could be the first test of a new law that gives the Quebec government sweeping powers to end labor disputes.
The Montreal Transit Agency's 2,400 maintenance workers began a strike last week that could last most of November. The shutdown – the third this year – limited bus and subway service in the city to peak hours.
Political leaders are calling on both sides to resolve the dispute, which has dragged on for months. But the workers' union accuses the transit agency of waiting until a new labor law passed in the spring takes effect in late November.
The law gives Quebec's minister of labor the power to end a dispute by ordering binding arbitration if a strike or lockout is considered harmful to society. It also expands the types of services that must be maintained during a labor dispute to include those that provide for the “welfare of the public.”
“In other words, it is clear that from now on employers will no longer be forced to agree,” said Bertrand Guibord, a union official representing transport workers, during a news conference on Monday.
“They will sit back and wait for the situation to become chaotic or unmanageable before the ministry intervenes and ends the work stoppage.”
Barry Eidlin, an associate professor of sociology at McGill University and an expert on labor movements, said the Quebec law poses an “existential threat to unions.” He said it bears some similarities to a section of the Canada Labor Code that was used repeatedly by the federal government last year to end strikes at ports, rail companies and Canada Post.
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Both laws give ministers “enormous discretion” to intervene in industrial disputes without “many checks and balances”, he said.
Montreal's transportation agency says Quebec's new law will not affect its position at the negotiating table. He stated that workers' wage demands far exceeded his ability to pay.
But Eidlin said employers will understand that the new law offers an “escape hatch” of sorts that “reduces the incentive to actually reach an agreement at the bargaining table.” He said the union is likely to call a month-long strike — from Oct. 31 to Nov. 28 — to put as much pressure as possible on the transit agency to reach a deal before the law takes effect Nov. 30.
“These types of violations can go on for a very long time before they simply have to act,” he said.
But Michelle Lambias Meunier, president and CEO of the Quebec Employers' Council, said Montrealers are “hostage” to the strike, which is preventing many people from getting to work. The council is calling on the provincial government to implement the law sooner than planned if the two sides do not reach an agreement soon.
Lambias Meunier said the purpose of the law was not to limit the possibility of strikes. “The idea here is that we strive to combine respect for workers' rights with the continuity of services that are critical to the people and economy of Quebec,” she said.
In a statement Monday, Quebec Labor Minister Jean Boulay said the dispute must be resolved as quickly as possible. “This strike is once again causing serious harm to people who depend on public transport,” he said. “I remain extremely concerned about the progress of the negotiation process.”
Maintenance workers have already gone on strike twice this year: nine days in June and 14 days in September and October. The main sticking points in negotiations are increasing wages and outsourcing some maintenance work.
Eidlin said Boulet would likely argue that transit workers provide “a service that promotes the welfare of the public.” But the law doesn't define what services fall under that definition, and the list could be “pretty endless,” he said.
“The reason strikes are effective, the reason they put pressure on employers to come to the bargaining table, is because they disrupt the everyday status quo,” he said.
In August, four McGill University faculty associations filed a challenge to the court against the new labor law, arguing that it violates the constitutional right to strike. The union representing maintenance workers has also vowed to challenge the law once it comes into force.
The federal government's use of Section 107 of the Canada Labor Code to end work interruptions also faces legal challenges.
Eidlin said the case will likely end up before the Supreme Court of Canada, which ruled in 2015 that the right to strike is constitutionally protected.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
