From this morning (Wednesday, April 15, 2026) through Saturday, April 15, 2026, the City of Montreal’s blue-collar workers are on strike.
Blue-collar jobs involve physical labor, and for the City of Montreal, blue-collar workers are primarily employed in maintenance, ensuring the city’s cleanliness and smooth operation—including maintenance workers, general laborers, city truck drivers, painters, electricians, and machine operators.
On Monday, April 13, the City of Montreal announced that essential activities and services will continue during the strike.
The strike and essential services maintained
The City of Montreal blue-collar workers’ strike was triggered by a proposal for an 11% wage increase over five years, which was rejected by the blue-collar workers’ union (CUPE 301) as too low. Given the rising cost of living in Montreal, the union considers the City’s proposal “indecent.”
The strike will disrupt the city’s upkeep and maintenance services—but perhaps that’s what it takes to appreciate the titanic work that blue-collar workers do every day in Montreal.
Essential services will be maintained during the four-day blue-collar strike in Montreal. The essential services and activities that will be maintained are:
- Emergency situation (an exceptional and urgent situation not covered by the agreement, a situation that endangers the health and safety of the public, or an emergency declared by municipal authorities);
- Repair of traffic signs and signals damaged as a result of an accident, among other things;
- Street cleanup following an accident, safety pruning and tree removal (emergency response regarding public trees);
- Road repairs (major potholes and sinkholes);
- Cleaning of public spaces to ensure safe coexistence;
- Sewer and water system operations;
- Preventive inspection tour of municipal arenas;
- Operations related to spring flooding in certain boroughs (Pierrefonds-Roxboro, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Île-Bizard);
- Operations related to drinking water production and wastewater treatment;
- Maintenance of living collections (animal, plant, and entomological).
