(Montreal) A final attempt to consensually agree on a settlement is taking shape at the Port of Montreal, as the union of 1,200 longshoremen and the Association of Maritime Employers have decided to undertake consensual mediation.
Published at 9:46 a.m.
Lia Levesque
The Canadian Press
However, the federal Minister of Labor, Steven MacKinnon, had requested the imposition of binding arbitration on November 12 to put an end to the labor dispute.
This conflict consisted of a lockout decreed by the employer, a partial strike by 320 longshoremen affecting two terminals of the Termont company and a refusal of longshoremen to work overtime.
On November 14, the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) ruled that it did not have the power to refuse to implement the minister’s instructions. This power belongs instead to the Federal Court. He therefore ordered the resumption of activities at the port, as ordered by the minister.
Likewise, it had extended the duration of the collective agreement which had expired on December 31, 2023.
Since then, work has well and truly resumed at the Port of Montreal – the largest port in Eastern Canada.
A request from the union
But the CIRB’s decision also revealed that, during its hearing on November 14, in a final attempt to reach an agreement rather than having a collective agreement imposed on it, the union had then requested that a mediation period be held. between the parties.
“The union requested in the alternative that a mediation period be provided before the binding arbitration is held in order to help the parties resolve the provisions of the collective agreement in part or in full in a consensual manner,” reported the CCRI.
And the CCRI accepted this request from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), affiliated with the FTQ. “The Council is of the opinion that it can grant this request while respecting the ministerial directive. »
The parties will therefore engage in consensual mediation for a period of 90 days, during which they will refrain from public declarations, in order to avoid harming this last chance process.
The parties agreed to appoint Gilles Charland, a man with several decades of experience in the world of work.
