The three-day partial strike of dock workers at the Port of Montreal is already having repercussions after just one day, says the Port of Montreal.
The Montreal Port Authority “is noticing an accumulation of containers on the ground, including temperature-controlled containers for food, pharmaceutical and medical products,” it said Tuesday.
Approximately 320 of the 1,300 longshoremen who are members of a local section of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, affiliated with the FTQ, walked off the job for three days, from Monday morning to Thursday morning, affecting the Viau and Maisonneuve terminals of the Termont company.
“The ongoing work stoppage at the Viau and Maisonneuve terminals paralyzes 40% of the total container handling capacity,” reports the Port of Montreal.
This partial strike occurs in a tense context between the Maritime Employers’ Association and the union, while the employers’ association tried in vain to prevent the work interruption, by going to court on Sunday.
But already, after just one day of partial strike, the Montreal Port Authority — which is not the employer negotiating with the union — reports 11,549 containers of goods delayed, 1,300 containers of various goods on the ground and five ships in transit. waiting.
“This situation deprives our customers and partners of 40% of the container handling capacity of the St. Lawrence in a crucial period, when goods intended for the holiday period, both for import and export, must transit through the Port of Montreal,” underlines the Port Authority.
Furthermore, the Port of Montreal has not yet recorded an increase in traffic or expected traffic, despite the strike affecting around thirty ports on the American east coast.
This strike in the United States had already been planned for several days and companies could have chosen Montreal as an alternative solution. The Port of Montreal is the largest port in Eastern Canada.
The union affirmed during a press conference last Friday that if there is a climate of uncertainty, it is the employers who caused it.
Negotiations have been going on for about a year. Federal Ministers of Transport, Anita Anand, and Labor, Steven MacKinnon, said they were monitoring the situation closely and invited the parties to come back to the table to negotiate.