In the wake of the strong reaction by representatives of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and CUPE’s Conseil provincial du secteur municipal (CPSM) and the union representing the amalgamated outside workers in Montreal (CUPE 301), the Conseil provincial du secteur du transport terrestre (CPSTT), which represents 8540 bus drivers and Quebec transit system employees, has come out against comments by Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante.
Ms. Plante, who is asking Quebec City for new sources of income and additional tools to increase them, suggested to the Legault government that it decree the salaries of municipal employees, who earn more than their provincial counterparts, according to a recent study.
According to CPSTT Anthony Latour, Ms. Plante was off base with her remarks, since the difficulties confronting transit companies are more attributable to a lack of political courage in dealings with the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain (ARTM). The latter, in a closed door setting and with the silent complicity of the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Geneviève Guilbault, has reduced service to users and privatized the systems.
“Insinuating that current budget problems are somehow related to the employees’ advantageous working conditions is a questionable, if not dishonest, oversimplification. At a time when the ARTM is protesting and burning through public funding it sends to private monopolies, it’s time that Ms. Plante and Ms. Guilbault realize that public transit has only one objective and that is to serve the public,” said Latour.
The circular debate on compensation paid to personnel employed by cities and towns is showing no signs of ending. In the past, this issue has, at times, been used as a bludgeon to scale back the working conditions and pension plans of thousands of municipal employees in Quebec.
CUPE reminds everyone that negotiation is the only avenue to take to reach agreements that preserve labour peace.