Canada Port of Montreal to resume operations on Saturday

TORONTO (ICIS)–The Port of Montreal will resume operations on Saturday, 16 November, at 07:00 local time, following labor disruptions that started on 31 October and a subsequent lockout of about 1,200 dock workers.

The Maritime Employers Association (MEA) said it received an order from the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to resume operations.

The federal government earlier this week directed the CIRB to order the resumption of all operations at Montreal, as well as Canada’s West Coast ports, where operations resumed on Thursday.

The MEA said it would work closely with the longshoremen’s labor union Syndicat des debardeurs and the Montreal Port Authority to ensure operations resume safely and efficiently.

Montreal is Canada’s second-largest port after Vancouver. Last year, the Port of Montreal handled a total volume of 35.3 million tonnes of goods, according to its website.

Meanwhile, at US East Coast ports, a labor dispute remains paused but there are concerns about whether employers and unions will reach an agreement by the 15 January deadline.

LEGAL CHALLENGES
The labor unions representing the port workers in Montreal and the Canadian West Coast ports said they would challenge the government intervention in court as it violated workers’ constitutionally protected rights to strike and to negotiate better wages and terms.

Political commentators said that by intervening in labor disputes and settling them through binding arbitration, the government was siding with employers.

The very expectation of a government intervention encouraged employers to lock out workers and then use the resulting economic damage to put pressure on government to intervene, they said.

Earlier this year, another labor union, Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), filed a court challenge against the government’s move in August to intervene and end a freight rail labor dispute. That case has not yet been decided.

Additional reporting by Adam Yanelli

Thumbnail photo source: Port of Montreal