The work atmosphere is rapidly deteriorating at the Société de transport de Laval (STL) whose 627 drivers have been attempting to renew their collective agreement, which expired on July 31, 2019.

Although the parties have held 22 bargaining sessions since November 2019, little progress has been made. The employer has just announced that it will turn to conciliation.

CUPE 5959, which has a strike mandate which 99 per cent of its members voted in favour of in January 2021, is now facing the closure of the STL in wake of the demands from drivers, notwithstanding several concessions made by the union.

The latter voiced indignation at the fact that, following concessions made by union members to achieve productivity targets, the employer added other demands that were unacceptable. Moreover, the union denounced paltry wage hikes of 2 per cent annually over 5 years, as offered by the STL when it produced its submission on September 9.

“We made breakthroughs in productivity, which enabled STL to reinvest its savings into the network. However, despite being in a period of hyperinflation, the employer keeps making anemic offers that will leave our membership less well off,” denounced Patrick Lafleur, president of CUPE 5959.

Among the other contentious points, the STL has rejected all of the union’s demands on non-monetary issues. For example, on the matter of job security, only those persons hired before January 1, 1991 are covered. Group insurance and the pension plan are also stumbling blocks. Moreover, there is no plan calling for job restructuring in the event of technological advances such as the introduction of autonomous vehicles.

“Over the summer, tens of routes were cancelled, leaving citizens out in the street at a time when 25 drivers were laid off by the employer, which took advantage of the situation to make a clear demand during negotiations for a clause enabling it to cancel service as it sees fit, meaning that users could be out in the street if it costs too much to operate a given route. Depriving people of our services is scandalous,” added Lafleur.

Aside from the difficult work atmosphere, STL ignored some clauses in the collective agreement by contracting out the work of bus drivers to other categories of employees and unduly resorted to disciplinary action.