After Six Tense Years, Montréal Port Workers Have One Last Chance to Reach a Deal

At the Port of Montréal, nearly 1,200 longshore workers have been ordered into binding arbitration by the Canadian government following a 10-day lockout.

There’s still one final chance to reach a consensual agreement. The Syndicat des Débardeurs (Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 375) and the Maritime Employers Association have entered a 90-day period of mediation. During this period, they are to refrain from making any public statements.

If the mediated negotiations fail, a new contract will be imposed by the federal government.

Longshore workers at the port have been working without a contract since December 31, 2023. Their biggest concerns are scheduling, workplace rules, and forced overtime. Over the last 15 months, CUPE and the MEA held 35 meetings to reach an agreement, but to no avail.

Union members voted to strike after rejecting the MEA’s “final offer” by a whopping 99.7 percent—and were met by a 10-day lockout. Then Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon imposed binding arbitration November 12, ending the lockout and bringing both parties to the bargaining table.

The Canada Industrial Relations Board, an independent and quasi-judicial government agency tasked with administering federal labor laws, is responsible for mediating.

UNPREDICTABLE SCHEDULING

The dispute dates back six years, to when a previous collective agreement ended in 2018. What the union calls “unpredictable scheduling practices” became a primary grievance in negotiations. Workers wanted a more equitable work-life balance.

Those negotiations dragged into the summer of 2020, when the union engaged in several partial strikes at specific port terminals. A union-wide strike was quickly cancelled when the House of Commons passed back-to-work legislation. The MEA had long sought government intervention, and it was encouraged by the premiers of Ontario and Quebéc.

CUPE is still challenging the back-to-work legislation in Canadian courts, and filed a complaint with the International Labour Organization, saying it infringes workers’ right to freely bargain with their employer.

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Many of the issues from the 2018-2020 round of negotiations remain unresolved to this day. Scheduling and wages are still top priorities for the union—and for management.

STRUGGLES IN MANY PORTS

This year’s federal back-to-work order is also forcing parties into binding arbitration at five other ports in Canada. Strikes in the Canadian longshore industry have been common in recent years.

At the same time as the lockout at two Montréal terminals, there was a large lockout at the Port of Vancouver, as well as strikes at the Port of Quebéc City and three additional ports in British Columbia. Federal arbitrators will be dispatched to each of these ports which cannot reach a mutually agreed contract.

Meanwhile in the U.S., 25,000 longshore workers across the Eastern Seaboard continue to push for higher wages and a ban on automation. The International Longshoremen’s Association struck for three days in October, shutting down East and Gulf coast ports. They suspended the strike with the promise of a 61 percent pay hike, but returned to negotiations over automation. It’s possible that the ILA could strike again in January.

If Canadian ports cannot reach an agreement by the end of their mediation, then a contract will be imposed by the government. The workers will be eligible to strike again at the end of their new contracts, presumably years away.

Heading into mediation at the Port of Montréal, the MEA was offering a six-year deal, with 3 percent raises per year for the first four years and then 3.5 percent per year for the last two. Excessive overtime will certainly be discussed.

The results of the bargaining should be announced sometime in February at the latest, and if there is a tentative agreement, workers will have a chance to vote on it.

Liam O’Toole is a graduate student at McGill University who is writing a thesis about strikes at major Canadian ports.