As previously reported, mediated negotiations resumed on April 15. No information has been issued on the April 15 discussions and it is not known whether negotiations continued on the 16th. There are media reports that the union limited strike action of no overtime and no weekend work is continuing.

Section 87.3 (1) of the Canada Labour Code requires the union to renew its mandate to call a strike every 60 days by a vote from the membership. The current limited strike action was authorized under the previous membership vote.

The MEA reports that a new 60 day mandate vote was held late last week and the longshore workers voted over 99% to renew the union’s mandate to call further job action should the union executive decide such action to be necessary.

Following the Canadian Chamber of Commerce meeting last Tuesday, FMA wrote again to the government requesting intervention. This was followed up by sending a news release and the FMA letter to the transportation media. The news release (FMA News Release April 16) can be found here. Click here for the FMA letters of February 22 and April 13.

FMA was also a signatory to the Chamber of Commerce letter sent out last week. The English and French versions can be found at the following links.

There was an analysis on the broad implications of the Port of Montreal Labour dispute in American Shipper on April 15 and that article can be found by clicking on the fourth red bar below.

_______________________________________________________________

FMA continues to recommend that member companies reach out to the Prime Minister, the Labour Minister, other Cabinet Ministers, and to MPs in ridings where their facilities are located. As the uncertainty continues, the letters outlining the damages inflicted become even more important.

Please feel free to use any wording from the FMA letters above.

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