Montreal Lockout Talks Delayed to Thursday

Container vessels rode at anchor in the St. Lawrence River Wednesday as the Port of Montreal remained shut down for the third consecutive day and shippers expressed anxiety about growing costs.

The Montreal Port Authority reported Wednesday that its grain terminal can receive and ship cargo but that no other container or bulk and breakbulk ships are in port.

"The Maritime Employers Association is maintaining its lockout," the MPA said in a statement. Rail freight cars that had been loaded before the shutdown "now are leaving the terminals."

"No vessel requiring the work of longshoremen for its operation is in the Port."

Sebastien Goulet, spokesman for the Syndicat des debardeurs, local 375 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees told The Journal of Commerce that the Maritime Employers Association had rejected a request by the union to start the talks Wednesday and keep them going "around the clock." He said the MEA responded that it needed more time. Instead, the two will meet, along with two federal government-appointed mediators, at 9.30 a.m. Thursday.

Employers on Monday locked out 850 longshoremen at the port in a labor dispute. They have agreed to meet with union representatives Thursday and Friday to resume failed negotiations.

The Montreal branch of the MEA, through spokesman Gilles Corriveau, told The Journal of Commerce that the MEA wants to reduce the numbers of senior longshoremen, now 107, who have job security under the expired labor contract and who are paid to be available when not working. He said the MEA does not want to end this program because having longshore workers on call and available is important to the employers, but the number should be lower.

The longshore union’s Sebastien Goulet told The Journal of Commerce that the union has offered to reduce the 850 longshore workers by 50 persons. The union also proposed to streamline the process of calling workers to load and unload vessels.

Corriveau said the Thursday meeting is for the MEA to respond to the union presentation. Then, he said, a "dialogue" would follow.

Meanwhile, the Canadian International Freight Forwarders Association (CIFFA) told members Wednesday that "vessels are at anchor in the St. Lawrence river, awaiting developments."

"If the lockout lasts only a few days, it is assumed that vessels will not be diverted to other ports due to all the technical, legal and financial costs involved," Ciffa said.