The City of Montreal can't afford wage demands being made by striking public transit workers and nothing will change that, Mayor Gérald Tremblay warned Tuesday.

The city's 2,200 public transit maintenance workers walked off the job early Tuesday after late-night negotiations over wages and pensions broke down and failed to produce a new contract.  

Essential public transit service during maintenance workers' strike Bus and metro service provided from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. Weekend bus and metro service from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. Adapted transit service is still available Commuter train service is still available and will run on regular schedule

The mayor said the strike — the island's second in four years — is "distressing," but the city will not budge on its final offer.

"We believe the offer we've made takes in consideration our ability to pay. We hope [union] leaders will negotiate," Tremblay said at a city hall news conference Tuesday.

The city's finances are "fragile" and it has no more to give, he stressed. "For years, [past] administrations have ceded to union demands. This time we won't, because it would be against the interests of Montreal."

The strike affects up to one million Montrealers who use public transit daily — in particular, thousands of shift workers who take the bus and metro outside peak hours.

Montreal transit maintenance workers walked out on the job at 12:01 a.m. ET Tuesday morning.
(Peter McCabe/Canadian Press)

Maintenance workers must provide bus and metro service during three peak periods prescribed by the province’s essential council service: 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Tremblay urged Montrealers to take their bicycles, carpool or walk, and admitted that "it won't be easy."

Tuesday morning rush hour unfolded without any major delays, but the head of Montreal’s public transit commission Claude Trudel warned Montrealers to brace themselves as the strike could stretch out for several days.

Trudel called the walkout "irresponsible" and told reporters on Tuesday that the commission is in a serious financial bind and there is "no question" it can afford the union’s wage increase demands.

Montreal's Public Transit Commission president Claude Trudel said a raise for maintenance workers is not in the cards this year
(Radio-Canada)

"I think we have to be responsible. There is such a thing as give and take,”"he said.

Montreal's transit commission is running a $22-million deficit and intends to comply with the city’s wage freeze request. The commission has offered a two per cent increase over a three-year period starting in 2008 that the union rejected.

Denis Bonneau, a spokesman for the Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux (CSN), said Montrealers may think "we're not nice people because we go on strike and take them hostage," but the union has no choice.

Workers are asking for a two per cent raise in 2007 to match inflation and salary increases granted to their counterparts in Laval and Longueuil on Montreal’s South Shore.

Pension also contentious issue

Control over the workers’ pension was another sticking point, Bonneau said.

Maintenance workers earn between $22 and $25.78 an hour, or an average salary of about $50,835 a year plus overtime. They’ve been without a contract since January.

The strike could drag out because of the essential services order, said a labour expert at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM).

Maintenance workers are paid 75 per cent of their salary to provide essential services during the lockout, which takes the pressure off both sides to come to a swift compromise, said Michel Grant, a professor at UQÀM’s department of organization and human resources

“The strike doesn’t inconvenience the public. They aren’t completely deprived of service,” he told CBC’s French-language service.

But the transit commission has a lot riding on talks with the union, said Grant.

“If the city gives a two per cent raise, that increase is acquired for all white-collar workers, firefighters and others” who are negotiating new work contracts.

Montreal’s transit commission issued a statement late Monday night asking riders to be "lenient towards drivers, operators and fare booth workers, who are in no way responsible for this situation."

The strike is the 15^th in the last four decades, and the second by maintenance workers in the last four years.