(The following article by Mike King appeared in the Montreal Gazette on July 9. Marc-Andre Lamontagne is a member of BLE Division 950 in Quebec City.)
MONTREAL — Striking rail traffic controllers want to overturn a court order that prevents them from interrupting commuter train service in and out of Montreal as a pressure tactic to get contract talks back on track.
“Union lawyers are poring over it,” local controller Marc-André Lamontagne said yesterday of the Quebec Superior Court injunction obtained by the Metropolitan Transit Agency on Friday.
“We’re trying to quash it. We can’t go anywhere near MTA trains or tracks.”
The MTA plans to seek a permanent injunction when the 10-day order expires on July 14.
The labour dispute is between the Rail Canada Traffic Controllers and Canadian Pacific Railway, but about 23,000 passengers on three Montreal commuter train routes – to Blainville, Dorion/Rigaud and Delson – have been caught in the middle.
The transit authority argued before Justice Jean Filiatreault that its clients shouldn’t have to suffer inconveniences because of union demonstrations at train stations and on the tracks.
MTA trains which use CP Rail lines were being delayed by five to 20 minutes some days because of pickets set up by the strikers.
Manon Goudreault, MTA manager of communications, said there haven’t been any further disruptions since the injunction was issued.
The 45 controllers across the country, who walked off the job June 18 after being locked out the previous day, have been without a contract since Jan. 1.
They say they are fighting management plans to scale back health benefits and make changes to work rules that would affect seniority and quality of life.