Montreal commuters frustrated, left with few options as STM strike disrupts service
Reduced Metro and bus service due to STM maintenance workers' strike
Montreal transit users are caught in the middle of a conflict between the Sociét é de transport de Montréal (STM) and its maintenance workers.
Many Montrealers, like Karen Chapman, are frustrated by the reduction in Metro and bus service.
As a shipper in a warehouse for textiles, Chapman starts her shift at 7 a.m. — a mere 30 minutes after service begins during the strike. She wonders why commuters like herself should have to pay the price of this dispute.
"It shouldn't be our fault," she said, highlighting the fact that Montrealers who use the bus and Metro won't get compensated for the price they pay for their monthly passes.
"They should talk it out and figure out a way so that we don't hurt, the public," she said. "There's a lot of people that work hourly wages, so they will be docked."
Jacqueline Dixon, an orderly at a nursing home who works from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. finds the situation "not fair" for anybody.
"Not everybody has money to pay for an Uber, a taxi or rent a bicycle," she said.
Now, instead of leaving her house an hour in advance, Dixon said she might have to leave two hours early.
"We're not happy," she said. "We can't call in sick, there has to be a better solution."
Maintenance workers with Montreal's transit authority launched a week-long strike on Monday, citing some of the STM's 130 demands that they find unacceptable — including the removal of 12-hour work days that contribute to many people's work-life balance.
Buses and Metro cars started running at around 6:30 a.m. on Monday, about an hour later than usual.
Many night and early shift workers were stranded, having no choice but to wait for the first bus or Metro.
Juvenson Latus, a Montreal student and logistics technician, works at night and explained that although he waited for the first Metro car of the day to come, he couldn't even make it on.
"When the first Metro arrived, it was so crowded, I couldn't get on it. I had to wait for another one," said Latus.
"It's everyone who's hit by this, it's so hard."
Ugox Saint works a split shift as a security guard. On Monday, he finished working at around 3 a.m. and was still at the Lionel-Groulx Metro station at 6 a.m.
"We are begging the government to come to our aid because we can't do without them," said Saint.
You can find a detailed breakdown of the service hours during the strike and the reasons for it here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Lauren McCallum, Paula Dayan-Perez and Antoni Nerestant