Montreal city professionals’ strike: what’s affected

About 3,000 City of Montreal professionals remain on a legal strike that runs every weeknight and weekend, and the city says residents may see changes to some city and borough services over the next few weeks.

The Syndicat des professionnelles et professionnels municipaux de Montréal (SPPMM) began the strike on Oct. 19, 2026, and it remains in effect, the City of Montreal said in a notice to residents. Members are off the job Monday to Thursday from 5 p.m. until 8 a.m. the next day, and from 5 p.m. Friday until 8 a.m. Monday.

The city said essential services related to public health and safety are being maintained. It has posted the effects for each borough on a French-language page linked from the notice.

Libraries are among the services most exposed, since librarians often work evenings and weekends, Noovo Info reported when the union filed its strike notice. In Saint-Laurent, the borough said the strike changes hours at the Bibliothèque du Boisé on Wednesdays, starting Oct. 21, when it will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., according to a borough notice.

If you plan to visit a library, sports centre or borough office in the evening or on a weekend, check the borough’s page on montreal.ca before you go, because hours can differ from one borough to the next.

The union represents about 3,000 professionals, The Canadian Press reported via CTV News, while Noovo Info put the figure at about 3,100. The members have been without a collective agreement since Jan. 1, 2024, and the main issues are wages, telework and keeping up with the cost of living, Noovo reported. Members gave the union an unlimited strike mandate with 90.61 per cent support on Sept. 23.

Union president Anne Dorais said it was out of the question for talks to end with worse working conditions, according to Noovo. Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada has said the city has little room to manoeuvre and wants to respect taxpayers’ ability to pay.

The city earlier reached an agreement in principle with the union representing its 6,000 blue-collar workers, Noovo reported.

Montreal also took several city websites offline this week as a precaution after a worldwide security flaw, the city said in a separate notice, similar to the step Ottawa took when it took some federal websites offline over a PHP security flaw. Public sector labour tension is also building federally, where PSAC has set strike votes for 120,000 federal workers. In other Montreal news, a court heard a bid to suspend the city’s insult bylaw on Thursday.

Sources: City of Montreal; Noovo Info (French); The Canadian Press via CTV News.

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