The threat of a strike loomed over the weekend at the Port of Montreal as the longshoremen’s union and employers met Friday to negotiate renewal of a labor contract for the union's 850 members.
After a year-and-a-half of sporadic and unsuccessful negotiations to renew their June 2005, collective agreement, the union voted July 6 by a 95.5 percent margin to authorize a strike “at an opportune moment.”
The Syndicat des Debardeurs, part of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, already stopped all overtime work at the port July 9.
The union’s emergency decisions came after the Maritime Employers Association at Montreal informed the union on June 23 that it was removing job security and guaranteed hours of work from 107 of the 850 regular longshore workers effective four days later. The job security and hours of work had been covered by clauses in the 2005 agreement, which the MEA said it was changing.
“A recent decision of the MEA to withdraw job security from 107 longshoremen ... triggered the union workers’ pressure tactics,” the MEA said on its Web site.
For a special group of senior workers, the 2005 agreement had guaranteed job security and a set number of hours of work. The MEA wrote the union on June 23 that this no longer made any cost-effective sense, because there now were too many workers affected for the cargo handling now being conducted.
Until there could be a new collective agreement, the MEA said, it would refuse to guarantee job security and hours of work for the 107 workers.
The union responded with the overtime ban but said it was ready to negotiate a new agreement. The two sides met Thursday. Both sides were in meetings all day Friday. Jean-Pierre Langlois, an MEA officer who was not part of the meetings, said there had been a decision not to disclose anything about the negotiations until there was something final to say.
After a year-and-a-half of sporadic and unsuccessful negotiations to renew their June 2005, collective agreement, the union voted July 6 by a 95.5 percent margin to authorize a strike “at an opportune moment.”
The Syndicat des Debardeurs, part of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, already stopped all overtime work at the port July 9.
The union’s emergency decisions came after the Maritime Employers Association at Montreal informed the union on June 23 that it was removing job security and guaranteed hours of work from 107 of the 850 regular longshore workers effective four days later. The job security and hours of work had been covered by clauses in the 2005 agreement, which the MEA said it was changing.
“A recent decision of the MEA to withdraw job security from 107 longshoremen ... triggered the union workers’ pressure tactics,” the MEA said on its Web site.
For a special group of senior workers, the 2005 agreement had guaranteed job security and a set number of hours of work. The MEA wrote the union on June 23 that this no longer made any cost-effective sense, because there now were too many workers affected for the cargo handling now being conducted.
Until there could be a new collective agreement, the MEA said, it would refuse to guarantee job security and hours of work for the 107 workers.
The union responded with the overtime ban but said it was ready to negotiate a new agreement. The two sides met Thursday. Both sides were in meetings all day Friday. Jean-Pierre Langlois, an MEA officer who was not part of the meetings, said there had been a decision not to disclose anything about the negotiations until there was something final to say.