Pressure tactics at the RTC: drivers will save the FEQ

The drivers of the RTC voted unanimously in favor of the triggering of pressure tactics “at the time deemed appropriate” this summer, but they immediately rule out any disruption of service during the Festival d’été de Québec.

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Out of respect for the clientele, the union and its 950 members have completely ruled out taking festival-goers hostage from July 6 to 17 and in any way affecting the shuttle service, which is generally very successful.

“The drivers are fully aware that the population needs to be entertained after more than two years of the pandemic,” said the president of the drivers’ union, Hélène Fortin, in a press release released late Wednesday afternoon.

The management of the RTC had asked its drivers, via an internal publication, to make themselves available for the FEQ in order to “travel customers in a good mood”, relates the union.

“We consider that we have a great clientele traveling all year round and not just during the Summer Festival,” retorts Ms. Fortin, who says she has the well-being of the clientele at heart at all times.

About 350 drivers participated in the meetings which took place on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning. They voted “100%” in favor of future pressure tactics – the nature of which has not yet been specified – which illustrates the “discontent” that currently reigns at the RTC, according to Ms. Fortin.

Their employment contract expires next week, June 30, and talks should begin with the employer only when they return from summer vacation. For now, any strike is excluded. Legally, drivers would not have the right to trigger one, anyway, before October.

However, the drivers refuse to wait for the start of negotiations before expressing their dissatisfaction.

They denounce the work climate, the use of subcontracting (for the FlexiBus service, for example) and the employer’s “lack of openness”. “The main problem is the increasingly frequent recourse to subcontracting, our members really have a problem with that,” summarizes Ms. Fortin.

“We are facing an employer who manages change very badly,” adds François Proulx-Duperré, secretary general of the Central Council of Québec–Chaudière-Appalaches (CSN). “The RTC is in the midst of profound upheaval, but the management cannot get the employees on board. However, the unions are not asking for the moon: they want to be consulted and participate in the changes rather than simply undergoing them.

Calls for the collaboration of the management of the RTC, in the media, “do not go beyond the stage of speech” for the moment, deplores the union. It is in this context that the union is reaching out to the members of the RTC board and to the mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand.

“It is time to put the cards on the table and inform the higher authorities of the real state of labor relations at the RTC,” adds Ms. Fortin, who has had no feedback from the town hall, despite her attempts. The mayor of Quebec recently confirmed that he had no intention of interfering in labor relations at the RTC.