Approximately 10,000 students will be deprived of school transportation in the next two weeks, in Montreal and Laval, due to a strike that has just been called at Autobus Ideal. Once again, it is above all the question of salaries which stumbles.
“The employer has the money, but he wants to keep it for himself. That’s the reality. The money is there, but it does not go into the pockets of the drivers. We are tired of having lousy salaries,” laments the president of the School Transportation Sector at the Federation of Public Service Employees (FEESP-CSN), Josée Dubé.
His group, which represents more than 3,000 drivers in around ten regions, has been deploring for months already that too many carriers still refuse to offer better conditions despite the government subsidies received last year during the renewal of collective agreements with the school service centers.
A strike was therefore formally called this Tuesday at Autobus Ideal, whose drivers – without an employment contract since June 30 – have been in union negotiations for several months already. On March 11, they gave themselves a mandate for pressure tactics that could go as far as a strike. Around ten meetings have already taken place with the employer, but to no avail.
In total, around 165 drivers and workers will be on strike until at least April 28, i.e. for a period of two weeks. This new break in service will affect 10,000 students spread across three school service centers, namely those in Montreal, Laval and Pointe-de-l’Île.
Many parents will therefore have to find an alternative option. “We are really sorry for the parents, we are very sensitive to the inconvenience that this causes, except that it is our only way to make ourselves heard, because the employer does not want to know anything,” illustrates Mme Dubé on this subject. “Children don’t magically arrive at school. Drivers transport them. And these drivers must be paid better,” she persists.
All this is reminiscent of the strike by 350 school bus drivers at Autobus Transco in Montreal, which ended in March after more than four months.
Some 15,000 young people who study in schools of the Montreal and Marguerite-Bourgeoys School Service Centers, as well as the English Montreal and Lester B. Pearson School Boards and at Collège Sainte-Anne, have been deprived of school transportation since the month of October. The six-year employment contract that was signed will increase the weekly salary from $634 to $907 on 1er July 2027.
This is not the only strike currently underway in the school transportation industry. In Drummondville, the approximately 100 employees of Autobus Voltigeur are also there, as are several other carriers in Rivière-du-Loup, Pointe-aux-Outardes or even in Estrie, to name a few. In all cases, it is the question of salary that causes dispute.
With The Canadian Press
reference: www.lapresse.ca