Agreements at the STM | Who comes out the winner?

No locked doors at station entrances. Normal frequency in the network. Zero chaos.

But I can confirm it to you: there is still a strike at the Société de transport de Montréal (STM).

Its 2,400 maintenance employees have been avoiding overtime since December 11. Their month-long walkout will end on Sunday. This strike – one more – aims to increase pressure on their employer to obtain significant salary increases and other benefits.

On behalf of Montrealers, I thank them for not taking users hostage, like last spring.

But I also tell them: good luck for the rest of your negotiation.

Because the STM has managed to reach an agreement with its three other unions since mid-November, including the most important, that of drivers. The patience of leaders is running out…

The STM is an enormous machine: 10,500 employees and a budget of $1.8 billion. Two thirds of this envelope is used to pay salaries, the vast majority of which are those of union members (89%).

Workers have made many gains over the decades. Job security, concrete pension plan, overtime galore, etc.

But the tone of this negotiation, given from the start, was unequivocal: the cows would be thinner than fat this time.

Quebec, a major funder of public transport, wanted to clean up the expenses of companies like the STM. To push them behind their backs, former Minister of Transport Geneviève Guilbault ordered a “performance audit” from the firm Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton (RCGT).

One of the findings of the report: the conditions offered by the STM are excellent. In 2023, the average total remuneration of drivers was equivalent to 2.5 times what an average worker in the Montreal metropolitan area earns, RCGT calculated. A third of drivers pocket more than $100,000 per year, specifies the STM.

This independent audit gave the STM ammunition to negotiate hard, according to my sources. And to make tough demands of the unions, such as increased use of subcontracting.

The company has also given itself a very rigid “financial framework” for salary increases. No more than 11% or 12% over five years… while the union members demanded double.

Things have gotten worse in the last few months. There have been several walkouts and strike orders. But here it is: three of the four STM unions have reached agreements in principle, and two of these agreements have been approved by the members (another vote will soon be held among professionals).

Who comes out the winner?

Let’s start with the 4,500 bus drivers, metro operators, station agents and paratransit drivers, represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). This is the biggest contingent in the box.

They obtained salary increases of 17.5% over five years, i.e.: 2.5% in 2025, 4.5% in 2026, 3.25% in 2027 and 2028 and 4% in 2029. To this is added a lump sum of 2.5% for last year.

This is not the desired 25%, but we are very far from austerity here. Especially since these union members are starting from an already high salary base.

So, has the STM destroyed its financial framework? She says no, which seems hard to believe at first glance.

The company claims to have found several “self-financing avenues” with the union. These savings made it possible to increase salaries well beyond 11%, while cutting back left and right in other conditions.

The STM managed to relax several ultra-rigid union clauses, which limited its management rights.

For example, metro staff, currently assigned to a single station, may be required to move elsewhere in the network if traffic justifies it. This will eliminate the need to bring in another colleague for overtime.

The complex management of work uniforms has been simplified, which will reduce the annual bill. The remaining portion of paratransit, which was not already subcontracted, will now be.

Or again: the STM will pay 90% of the salary of a driver on sick leave, as income compensation, rather than 95% previously.

All these savings put together will allow the company to respect its initial framework, my sources maintain. Millions in savings each year, we hope, including overtime.

Employees are not left out. In addition to honorable salary increases, they have made some gains, such as the creation of a cumulative time bank and new arrangements for work-family balance.

Verdict: they seem far from losing out to me.

The 1,300 administrative employees also ratified an agreement. The STM has managed to introduce some new features into their working conditions, which promise savings in the medium term.

There are some surprising things in there. For example: part-time positions, hitherto prohibited by the union, will be permitted. This will give the STM more flexibility to adapt its workforce to the needs of its various projects.

Lifetime job security – yes – has also been abolished. Employees whose position is eliminated will have to be relocated elsewhere in the company for a maximum of 24 months, but not for eternity…

The STM must now come to an agreement with its maintenance employees. She does not intend to give up, I am told, and no settlement seems within reach for the moment.

But already: the company is satisfied to have succeeded in modernizing certain elements in the ironclad collective agreements of its union members. A first step which will set the table for the next negotiation.