Montreal Port Seeks Trudeau’s Help to End Dockworker Strike
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The Montreal Port Authority is calling on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to intervene to end a weeklong strike that is disrupting operations in the country’s second-largest port.
Two terminals operated by Termont Montreal Inc. that account for about 40% of the port’s container handling capacity have been closed since Oct. 31 after unionized dockworkers walked off the job. It is the third labor action at the port in a month. The port authority said it considers all container-handling operations at international terminals to be at a standstill.
“It’s obvious that there are no negotiations, and that the government needs to act by offering both sides a path to reach a genuine industrial peace,” Julie Gascon, Montreal Port’s CEO, said in a statement Nov. 7.
The Canadian labor minister’s office didn’t immediately provide comment.
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The 1,200 dockworkers, represented by the Port of Montreal Longshoremen’s Union, have been without a collective agreement since Dec. 31. Talks with the Maritime Employers Association, the group representing companies operating the terminals, are at an impasse over wages and work-life balance.
Montreal Port handles about C$400 million ($289 million) worth of goods every day, generating C$268 million in economic activity, according to the authority.
The labor dispute comes as western Canadian ports locked out dockworkers Nov. 4, disrupting an estimated C$800 million in activity per day, according to the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade.
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