A labour dispute that has been simmering since the end of 2018 is bursting into the open again following a nearly eight-month hiatus with the Maritime Employers’ Association (MEA) and dockers both drawing the battle lines.
Montreal-based publication, the Maritime Mag reported that MEA had suspended the guaranteed income and job security provision, in the existing contract after the port “suffered a substantial 11% volume drop in March, caused by the uncertainty and anxiety triggered by the labour relations situation.”
[s2If is_user_logged_in()]In response, the dockers’ union CUPE 375 has issued a notice that from 13 April all overtime and weekend work will stop at the port.
Hapag-Lloyd has advised its customers that, “As a result [of the industrial action], terminal operations at the Port of Montreal will now operate five days per week instead of the usual seven days. Slowdowns to vessel operations as well as rail handling are to be expected. Vessel schedules could be impacted by these delays.”
The carrier said it will continue to adjust operations with a view to limiting the impact on its schedule and its customers.
Employers were quick to condemn the union’s stance with the MEA announcing, “The planned pressure tactics, namely the stopping of overtime work, of docking activities, of training and of weekend work, are being presented as a response to the cessation of payment for the hours that are not worked.
“This indefinite strike places the Montreal port industry in a precarious situation. This decision by the union will very quickly cause significant congestion and will have a major impact on the fluidity of the logistics chain, therefore undermining the economic recovery in Quebec and Canada.”
The union has denied that the dispute has caused the decline in Montreal volumes pointing to European port congestion, soaring freight rates and shortages of boxes caused by the pandemic.
Montreal dockers had offered a compromise, on 5 April, of returning to the 2018 deal that expired on the last day of the year, however, the MEA has seemingly rejected this offer and shifted to a more confrontational approach by effectively cutting docker’s incomes.
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