Employers lock out longshore workers in Montreal after contract offer rejected

The employers association at the Port of Montreal locked out nearly 1,200 longshore workers Sunday night, bringing a halt to traffic at the port.

The Maritime Employers Association (MEA) is calling on federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to intervene in the dispute to resolve the impasse at Canada’s second-biggest port.

“A number of economic and maritime players across the country have made the same request in recent weeks to get things moving,” the MEA said in a statement. “Like the MEA, they all want this dispute to be resolved so that Québec and Canadian businesses can no longer be held hostage and rely on predictable and uninterrupted operations at the Port of Montréal.”

Julie Gascon, chief executive of the Montreal Port Authority, warned of the economic consequences of a prolonged conflict.

“So right now there’s of course 1,200 (dockworkers) that are not working, but there’s also all of the truckers, the pilots, everybody that supplies vessel, everyone that supports the Port of Montreal,” Gascon explained.

Gascon says that’s especially problematic given Montreal is “at the cornerstone of the third largest economy in the world.”

“We service 65 per cent of the Canadian population and 75 per cent of the manufacturing capacity of Canada,” she told CityNews. “This is impacting our reputation, our ability to be seen as a partner of choice for trade, and that’s what maritime lines are looking for. They’re looking for certainty. They’re looking to know that there’s going to be capacity and they’re looking to know whether or not their ships are going to be loaded or not loaded.

“And right now we can’t give them neither of those three things, so they go elsewhere.”

The employers’ association in Montreal said it initiated the lockout at 9 p.m. ET on Sunday night after the unionized workers voted to reject a contract offer tabled last week.

A spokesperson for the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) says members voted 99.7 per cent to reject the proposal.

“We are in a lockout situation because of the employers do not want to negotiate,” said Michel Murray with CUPE Local 375, the union for dockworkers. “We have made numerous offers to sit down, but they refuse to respect our right to collective negotiation. Our main issue is at the table: work-life balance schedule. To the Maritime company, we say that, ‘You want long-term contract, you want long-term contract collective agreement, we need to fix the scheduling and go on a negotiation table.”

The union has said it will accept the same wage increases that were granted to its counterparts in Halifax or Vancouver — 20 per cent over four years.

The workers have been without a collective agreement since Dec. 31, 2023.

“So in terms of the contract negotiation, this has been ongoing for over a year now,” said Gascon. “From the Port of Montreal’s perspective, of course the latest pressure tactics are now closing the Port of Montreal. It’s been ongoing for a few weeks of course as we are culminating in a lockout. So from a Port of Montreal’s perspective, we want the conflict to be resolved so we can get back to work.

“The Port of Montreal is not the employer and we do not have the same decisions that are taken. What we need to see is a resolution.”

The lockout in Montreal comes as the employers and the union representing supervisors are also embroiled in a labour dispute in B.C. where port workers are also locked out, resulting in a paralysis of container cargo traffic at terminals across Canada’s west coast.

“The government has tools, and we have options, but it is their decision,” said Gascon. “They have been working with both parties for the last year negotiating that the federal mediator has been accompanying both parties. So, it is up to them whether or not they wish to intervene or not.”

The closure of most of the Port of Montreal will be felt throughout Quebec and across Canada, notably by small businesses, says the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).

“Businesses won’t be able to receive anything that they need. And they won’t be able to send out what they were planning to send out to their customer,” said Jasmin Guénette, the CFIB’s vice-president of national affairs.

“We are asking the federal government not to stay on the sideline and to intervene rapidly to end the current work stoppage at the Port of Montreal.”