The port of Montreal longshoremen’s union announces other means of pressure: they will refuse to work overtime starting Thursday, 7 a.m., for an indefinite period.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees, affiliated with the FTQ, which represents more than 1,200 longshore workers at the Port of Montreal, made the announcement on Monday.
“We are ready to negotiate intensively, but since the employer is dragging its feet, we are putting a little pressure on it to devote its energies to finding a solution,” commented Michel Murray, union representative at CUPE.
Negotiations for the renewal of the collective agreement have been going on for a year; the collective agreement expired on December 31, 2023.
A mediation session between the parties took place last Friday in the presence of two federal mediators, after the longshoremen resumed their activities. Some 320 of them went on a three-day partial strike, from Monday to Thursday, affecting the Viau and Maisonneuve terminals of the Termont company.
Schedule management and work-life balance are among the main points of dispute.
The Maritime Employers Association is due to comment later on Monday. She had already gone to court to try to prevent the three-day partial strike last week, but the Canada Industrial Relations Board ruled that the union’s strike notice was compliant and that there was no indication that the union had not negotiated in good faith.
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