Montreal Dockworkers to Strike Sunday
Dockworkers at the Port of Montreal will go on a 24-hour strike Sunday in a walkout that’s “expected to be felt at all four of the installation’s terminals” (Montreal Gazette).
What’s going on: On Thursday, the longshore union Syndicat des débardeurs du port de Montréal “filed a 72-hour strike notice … advising management that its members will be starting their strike at 7:00 a.m. Sunday and ending it at 6:59 a.m. Monday.”
- The news comes on top of an existing, two-week-long overtime strike by the union, which represents about 1,200 workers at the port, and a three-day strike that ended earlier this month. The latter occurred only at two of the port’s terminals.
- The port is the second largest in Canada.
The context: “Last week, federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon proposed to the union and the Maritime Employers Association that the issue be sent to time-limited mediation.”
- The dockworkers have been operating without a labor contract since Dec. 31, 2023, when their last agreement expired.
- Despite “35 mediation meetings over 15 months,” the MEA and the union “remain at an impasse” over work hours and pay.
Why it’s important: “The port is a major gateway for goods moving along the St. Lawrence Seaway, serving the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, as well as the U.S. Midwest,” according to The Wall Street Journal (subscription).
- “A key trade link for the automotive, agriculture, construction and other industries, the port handled about 35.3 million metric tons of cargo in 2023, with some 2,000 vessels passing through in a year, along with as many as 2,500 trucks a day and more than 60 trains a week.”