After a strike that paralyzed a container terminal for three days last week, dock workers at the Port of Montreal are moving forward with other pressure tactics: they will stop working overtime as of Thursday, , for an “unlimited period”.
The Union of Longshoremen of the Port of Montreal, a local section of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, affiliated with the FTQ, indicated on Monday that the measure concerns its 1,170 members.
This refusal to work overtime will come into effect as of 7 a.m. Thursday.
The union notice was sent while a mediation session was held last Friday with the Association of Maritime Employers (AEM), the employer of longshoremen – the workers who handle containers at the Port of Montreal.
The collective agreement for dock workers at the Port of Montreal expired on December 31. Negotiations have been ongoing for nine months. Issues like hours and job security are at the heart of the impasse.
South of the border, some 45,000 American longshore workers returned to work last Friday after a strike paralyzed 36 ports on the American east coast.