FMA participated in a virtual meeting on Tuesday hosted by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce to discuss the Port of Montreal situation.

Most of the information during the call was provided by the representative of the Maritime Employers Association (MEA).

MEA has recently met with various stakeholders including the Quebec Chamber of Commerce and the federal Minister of Labour. MEA noted that the Labour Minister continues to expect a settlement through normal bargaining. A negotiated settlement has not been achieved after nearly 30 months of negotiations.

MEA commented on the advertisement that they placed in La Presse and the Montreal Gazette. The Gazette ad was sent to FMA members in the March 29 update and can again be accessed at the bottom of this message. The purpose was to to publicize the details of the offer that has been rejected by the workers.

MEA also reported that there were informal discussions with the union last week but that formal negotiations involving Labour Canada mediators had not yet recommenced.

In response to a question, the MEA representative reported that there is no slow down or job action at the port and that the longshore workers are providing normal service.

The Chamber of Commerce noted that it will again be reaching out to the government requesting action to end this dispute.

Shipper Survey

One of the industry associations on the call has surveyed its members on the damage that the uncertainty is causing. It was agreed that the survey would be offered to other associations.

There was general agreement that this would be helpful in the outreach to the government by the Chamber and by all impacted stakeholders. FMA recommends that FMA member companies respond to the survey by April 7 and it can be found at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/T2HFBQF

We will keep the FMA membership informed as new information becomes available.

FMA continues to recommend that member companies reach out to the Labour Minister, other Cabinet Ministers, and to MPs in ridings where their facilities are located.

Please feel free to use any wording from the FMA letter that can be found by clicking on the red bar bellow.

Here are the email addresses of the Labour Minister and other suggested Cabinet Ministers.

  • Hon. Filomena Tassi, Minister of Labour: filomena.tassi@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca
  • Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister: pm@pm.gc.ca;
  • Oliver Duchesne, PM staff member: olivier.duchesneau@pmo-cpm.gc.ca;
  • Hon. Seamus O’Regan, Minister of Natural Resources: NRCan.Minister-Ministre.RNCan@Canada.ca;
  • Hon. Omar Alghabra, Minister of Transport: mintc@tc.gc.ca;
  • Hon. Francois-Phillipe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry: francois-philippe.champagne@parl.gc.ca;
  • Hon. Marc Garneau, Minister of Foreign Affairs: marc.garneau@parl.gc.ca

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