2023-07-01 09:18:35
What users and organizers of the Festival d’été de Québec feared is now a reality: the drivers of the Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC) have been officially on strike since this morning.
• Read also: The possible strike of the RTC drivers creates concern
• Read also: RTC negotiations: each side blames the other
If nothing is settled by then, public transport users will have to manage differently in Quebec for two long weeks, including the 11 days of the most important event of the summer in the Old Capital.
Despite the strike notice issued 25 days ago, the last negotiations ultimately did not allow the two parties to reach an agreement.
Thus, the employer party confirmed early Saturday that the members of the Union of Public Transport Employees of Metropolitan Quebec inc. went on strike from July 1 to July 16 inclusively.
Unless there is an agreement, the resumption of activities is scheduled for Monday, July 17.
“We made the necessary efforts to reach an agreement, but unfortunately the clock has struck. We have been without a contract for more than a year and the Union reminds the employer that the deadline is June 30 to reach a satisfactory settlement,” said Hélène Fortin, President of the Union of Employees. by press release.
“In the next few hours, we are going to hear all sorts of things, but what I would like us to remember is that the strike notice was sent more than 25 days ago. It’s been a year since the file might have been settled by the RTC and it hasn’t been done. If we are here today, it is because there was a lack of will on the part of the employer,” she added.
“Citizens Hostage”
Earlier this week the mayor of Quebec Bruno Marchand declared that the outbreak of a strike would have “catastrophic consequences” for its citizens who will literally be taken hostage.
In the middle of the tourist season and a few days away from the Summer Festival, which attracts hundreds of thousands of people to downtown Quebec, the mayor fears the negative impacts of this work stoppage.
A FEQ without public transport, “it’s problematic”. “It complicates the arrival, it complicates the exit. For lots of reasons, it would be really, really, really not ideal, ”he said in the pages of the Journal this week.
The revendications
The 935 RTC drivers are asking for salary increases, more flexible hours and adjustments regarding subcontracting.
“The union’s objective is clear, to have working conditions that live up to what they deserve. We are in a situation of labor shortage and significant inflation, their demands are legitimate and must be addressed. “, hammered Simon Mathieu Malenfant, vice-president and treasurer of the Federation of Public Service Employees.
Maude Mercier Larouche and Nicolas Girard, respectively president and general manager of the RTC, were at a press conference on Thursday followingnoon. Photo Taieb Moalla
For his part, the director general of the RTC, Nicolas Girard affirmed earlier this week that the employer party had the will to settle the conflict as quickly as possible and that the two parties were negotiating day and night to reach an agreement.
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