Montreal Port Locks Out Dockworkers, Adding To Canada’s Supply-Chain Woes

By Curtis Heinzl

Nov 10, 2024,(Bloomberg) –Longshoring activity at the Port of Montreal is set to grind to a halt as an employers’ group locks out 1,200 union members.

The escalation of an ongoing labor dispute will disrupt Canada’s second-largest port, which typically handles nearly C$400 million ($288 million) of goods a day. It has been operating far below its container-handling capacity since dockworkers at two terminals walked off the job on Oct. 31. The union also held a full one-day strike in late October. 

The Maritime Employers Association gave the Longshoremen’s Union a deadline of Sunday at 8 p.m. New York time to respond to an offer that included about a 20% pay raise over six years. The total average compensation of a longshore worker would rise to more than C$200,000 per year by the end of the contract, the employers’ group said. 

But union members were nearly unanimous in rejecting that offer, according to a statement Sunday. The union has pointed out that in October, US dockworkers secured a 62% raise over six years. 

“The Maritime Employers Association deplores the negative outcome of the vote held by the Montréal Longshoremen’s Union on the final and comprehensive offer tabled on Thursday, and has no choice but to declare a lockout as of 9 p.m. this evening,” the MEA said in a statement Sunday. The two sides have been without a collective agreement since Dec. 31 of last year.

A few services, including a Viterra grain terminal, would continue operating, the port said last week.  

The Montreal Port Authority has asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to put an end to the labor dispute. “I believe that the best agreements are negotiated at the table. But let’s face it, there are no negotiations,” Julie Gascon, the port authority’s chief executive officer, said Thursday. 

On Canada’s west coast, a separate labor dispute is already disrupting an estimated C$800 million of activity per day. British Columbia dock employers locked out workers on Nov. 4 after a union posted notice of a strike action that would refuse overtime work. 

Canadian Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon said Nov. 7 that the government supports negotiations, but said talks in both British Columbia and Montreal were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved.”

© 2024 Bloomberg L.P.

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