Canada’s labor tribunal on Thursday rejected a request from maritime employers at the Port of Montreal to designate container services at the port as an essential service, leaving the option open for longshore workers to strike.
The “essential” designation request, which if granted would have barred workers from striking, comes as talks on a new contract have dragged on for seven months with no resolution.
“Although the decision does not correspond to our expectations, we remain convinced that the continuity and stability of the supply chain is of the utmost importance,” the Maritime Employers Association (MEA) said in a statement after the ministry’s ruling. “Our priority remains the conclusion of a negotiated collective agreement.”
The MEA filed its request in October that longshore work at Montreal’s six container terminals be designated as an “essential” service. The rejection came from the Canadian Industrial Relations Board.
The MEA’s request last fall, which had the support of Canadian forwarder and shipper groups, came as it said talks for a new collective bargaining agreement with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 375 hit an impasse just ahead of the expiration of the current four-year contract.
The MEA entered talks with the union representing Montreal’s 1,200 dockworkers back in September. But the union quickly shut down direct talks with employers by asking Canada’s Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) to intervene, signaling to many that CUPE was going to take a contentious stance in the talks.
But the FMCS’ oversight of talks ended in December with no deal. After a cooling-off period following those talks — and now the lack of an essential services designation — CUPE is allowed to strike within 72 hours of notifying the employers. The MEA said in its statement that it hopes the FMCS can again intervene in the talks.
Montreal has been hit by strikes during other contract negotiations. Longshore workers staged multiple strikes against the port in 2020 as they tried to bargain for a new four-year contract with the MEA following the previous contract’s expiration in 2018. CUPE Local 375 also struck the port for four days in April 2021 over new rules that required a seven-hour shift instead of five-hour shift.
CUPE did not respond to requests for comment.
Source:
Angell, M. (2024, March 14). Montreal port employers lose bid to make dockwork an “essential service.” Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/montreal-port-employers-lose-bid-make-dockwork-essential-service_20240314.html