MONTREAL — A strike that is upending public transit in Montreal could be the first test of a new law that gives the Quebec government broad power to end labour disputes.

The Montreal transit agency’s 2,400 maintenance workers launched a strike last week that could last for most of November. The work stoppage — the third so far this year — has limited bus and subway service in the city to peak hours.

Political leaders are urging the two sides to resolve a dispute that has dragged on for months. But the workers union is accusing the transit agency of waiting out the clock until a new labour law, adopted in the spring, takes effect at the end of November.

The law gives Quebec’s labour minister the power to end a dispute by imposing binding arbitration when a strike or lockout is deemed har

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