Montreal lockout disrupts Canadian shipments

Shipping through the port, Canada’s second largest after Vancouver, has been at a standstill since Monday as a result of the lockout.

The Maritime Employers Association (MEA), which represents shipping companies and negotiates with port workers in Montreal, Toronto and other Canadian cities, ordered a lockout on 850 longshoremen on Jul y 18 in a dispute over wages, blaming “union pressure tactics”, such as a refusal to work overtime, for the move. Longshoremen were told to start refusing overtime from July 9, according to the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ website.

The union denounced the lockout as “incomprehensible and pointless” but nonetheless set up picket lines at the road entrances to the port.

Employers are prepared to lift the lockout – said to be costing member companies of the association about C$800,000 per week – if union officials commit to abandoning pressure tactics, the MEA has said.

“The best way to disrupt the functioning of the port is to lock up and send the workers packing,” said union representative Michel Murray.”The solution is for the employer to let the work continue, in the port and at the negotiating table, and in the next few weeks, we’ll have an agreement.”

The sides are at odds over issues including seniority, pay guarantees, job security and recent hires. Workers have reportedly been without a labour agreement since the end of 2008.

However, while the lockout has disrupted freight shipments in and out of Montreal, the port authority claimed on Monday and Tuesday that there were no vessels in the port requiring longshoremen. Some shipping traffic that had been destined for Montreal has been diverted to Halifax, although unconfirmed reports claim that unionised Halifax dock workers are refusing to handle diverted ships.

Both Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railway have stopped hauling container traffic to and from the port.