Striking Montreal transit workers, commission reach tentative deal

Last Updated: Friday, May 25, 2007 | 3:25 PM ET

CBC News

The Montreal Transit Commission and striking maintenance workers have reached an agreement in principle, Quebec Labour Minister David Whissell announced Friday, after the province issued an ultimatum.

The deal was reached before the deadline of 2 p.m. ET that the province imposed earlier this week for both sides to resolve the dispute. About 2,200 maintenance workers had walked off the job Tuesday.

"Each party has to submit this deal, therefore, I can't comment further at this time," Whissell said in a brief afternoon news conference in Quebec City.

Claude Trudel, president of the Montreal Transit Corp., said the commission is ready to talk.

"We'll start all over again," he said at a news conference. "The conciliator has asked the two parties to go back to the negotiation table and both parties have agreed.

"The strike is over. That doesn't mean that the union doesn't have the right to do another one sometime in the future but so far as this one is concerned, it's finished."

Trudel said service would return to normal on Saturday.

Riders will receive a $2 to $3 fare reduction on their September transit passes as compensation for the lost service.

Union representatives did not immediately comment.

Union wants a raise

Maintenance workers went on strike Tuesday morning after contract talks with the city reached an impasse over wage increases and pension issues.

The union wants a raise this year but the city said it can't afford to increase salaries until 2008.

The strike's impact has been limited to non-peak hours, because workers have to provide service during rush hours under Quebec's essential services law.

Efforts to organize a demonstration against the transit strike died Thursday. No one showed up for the afternoon protest in Berri Square organized by Montreal resident Georges Stamatis.