Pressure tactics on the menu and threat of strike at the RTC

Deploring an “appalling” work climate, the RTC bus drivers’ union is preparing means of pressure this summer and does not rule out launching a strike which could affect service to users in the fall, learned The newspaper.

Their collective agreement is about to expire on June 30.

The approximately 975 drivers of the Réseau de transport de la Capitale will be called to a meeting on June 21 and 22, and will be asked to express their views on a range of short-term pressure tactics, even before starting negotiations with the employer. this autumn.

“From July 1, legally, we can take action. We are going to get a vote of means of pressure, ”confirms in an interview the president of the union, Hélène Fortin, who denounces in particular the use of subcontracting and the deterioration of the work climate for two years.

The operation of the new Flexibus service by taxi drivers creates “enormous frustration” and sows concern among its members who have fears about their jobs.

As for the tramway project, the union affirms that it is informed in dribs and drabs and that the management sometimes makes two statements: one in private, another in the media.

” I have never seen that “

“Me, in 20 years, I have never seen that. Our labor relations are unheard of in the history of the RTC,” says Ms. Fortin.

Remember that the last strike at the RTC dates back to 2004. It lasted 11 days.

“I was there in 2004 and it was not comparable to today,” says Ms. Fortin, to illustrate the current grumbling of drivers.

Initially, visibility activities are to be planned. Buses could, for example, be “decorated” by union members.

“There are several things you can do to upset the employer. If our people respected the speed limits to the quarter turn, tomorrow morning, the buses would no longer be on time at all”, she recalls, specifying that it would be a “last resort”, just like a strike this fall.

“The goal is to avoid touching customers because it’s important, it’s our livelihood. »

What about essential services?

RTC drivers will not have the right to strike before October 1st.

Until then, they will go to the labor court to try to evade the rules that require them to provide an essential service.

“We have a legal department working on this file to try to see the possibilities. Throughout the pandemic, drivers were asking for access to daycare and then we were told, “No, you’re not an essential service, you just have priority.” We are a priority when it suits them, then essential when it suits them. »

In 2017, essential services were provided 7 days a week during peak hours, in the event of a strike which was ultimately narrowly avoided.