The port of Montreal longshoremen’s union announces other pressure tactics: 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.
The Association of Maritime Employers (AEM) announced at the end of the day on Monday that it had “formally asked the union to withdraw this strike notice”.
“The Maritime Employers’ Association informed the longshoremen’s union today that the complete cessation of overtime has significant repercussions on the teams deployed and the tasks necessary for operations,” says the AEM in a written statement.
“As a result, the AEM advises that employees assigned to shifts whose teams are incomplete will not be paid. This decision is necessary in the context where incomplete teams will imminently cause the slowdown or even the cessation of port operations, with the resulting consequences for the public,” adds the employers’ association.
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 MEA 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 in order and that nothing was done. indicated that the union had not negotiated in good faith.
In its written statement on Monday, the AEM “reiterates its desire to continue negotiations and asks the union to follow the approach dictated by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, in order to reach a negotiated agreement as quickly as possible “.