Although the U.S. East and Gulf Coast port dockworker strike got put on hold last Thursday, another work stoppage north of the border could still throw a wrench in some trans-Atlantic supply chains.
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Dockworkers at the Port of Montreal are refusing to work overtime, filing notice Monday that they will stop working the extra hours for an “unlimited period” starting Thursday.
The overtime strike by roughly 1,200 Local 275 members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) follows a three-day strike from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 at the port’s Viau and Maisonneuve terminals.
“We’re willing to get down to intensive negotiations, but since the employer is dragging their feet, we’re turning up the pressure so that they put forth the energy needed to find a solution,” said CUPE union representative Michel Murray in a statement.
The Port of Montreal said last Thursday that an overtime strike could mean delays in processing and a possible accumulation of containers on the ground awaiting handling.
As a result of the anticipated strike, the Maritime Employers Association (MEA) has decided that employees assigned to shifts with incomplete crews will not be paid.
“This measure is necessary considering that incomplete shifts will cause imminent slowdowns or even halt operations at the Port, which will result in consequences for the public,” the MEA said Monday.
The employers have formally asked the union to withdraw this strike notice, and reiterated that it was willing to continue negotiations. Both sides last met on Friday in Montreal, at a discussion convened by mediators.
The two sides remain in the mediation process, with support from federally appointed officials, but more than a year of talks have failed to reach a deal to replace a collective agreement that expired at the end of last year.
The Port of Montreal longshore workers have been without a new collective bargaining agreement since Dec. 31, 2023. Negotiations for a new deal began three months earlier, which included a 60-day conciliation period followed by the mediation.
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In last week’s three-day strike, the port said about 40 percent of total container handling capacity on the St. Lawrence River was held up, with 11,529 containers delayed after the first delay.
CUPE elected to strike in late September as part of a two-pronged vote, with union dockworkers overwhelmingly rejecting the MEA’s last contract offer at a 99.6 percent rate before also voting 97.9 percent in favor for “pressure tactics” up to and including strike action.
According to the union, the negotiations are still getting tripped up on areas such as how the MEA manages employees’ schedules, with the statement saying that members want a better work-life balance.
The impact of a strike is likely to be far less evident when only overtime shifts are scrapped. But the labor stoppage is yet another disruption in a series of supply chain problems in Canada since last summer, when West Coast port dockworkers went on strike for two weeks before coming to a new deal. Later that year, a strike at St. Lawrence Seaway ’s lock systems and bridges lasted a week, holding up dozens of vessels from entering and exiting the waterway.
In August, Canadian railroads CN and CPKC both locked out their union employees ahead of an attempted strike, with the federal government intervening less than a day into the work stoppage to force the companies back to work. Although the railroads were only shut down for the span of a weekend, it took multiple weeks for both companies’ operations to fully recover.
Early last month, 730 foremen at the British Columbia ports also voted to authorize strike action earlier this month, but have not issued a strike notice.
After the CUPE’s conclusion of its three-day strike, Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME) is calling on both the union and employers association to return to the bargaining table and reach an immediate resolution.
“On the heels of a national rail stoppage, Canadian manufacturers cannot afford another prolonged supply chain disruption,” said Dennis Darby, president and CEO of CME in a statement. “We urge both parties to continue negotiations in good faith and to come to a resolution as quickly as possible. Any delays in resolving this dispute will not only affect manufacturers but also workers, consumers and the broader economy.”
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