September 27, 2024 – Two cargo terminals at the Port of Montreal could find themselves paralyzed next week if the Syndicat des débardeurs follows through on a 72-hour strike notice it filed Friday morning. In a statement, the longshoremen’s union said it filed notice of the strike at 7 am Friday, which would allow the membership to walk off the job as of 7 am Monday. Should the strike occur, it would last until 6:59 am Thursday. The union said the strike would take place at two terminals operated by Termont Montréal
September 26, 2024 – With the pending ILA port strike in the US East Coast and Gulf Ports about to happen next week, news is coming out of the Port of Montreal that their union has also been given a strike mandate. Following a vote on September 24th and 25th, the Port of Montreal Longshoremen’s Union, Local 375, CUPE, voted by a majority to adopt a strike mandate. At this stage, obtaining the strike mandate does not affect port operations: no disruption of port services can occur before a party has provided a 72-hour notice. More news as it develops.
September 4, 2024 – On Tuesday, International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 communicated to the BCMEA that it has a mandate from its members to take strike action. At the time of writing (4:00 pm PT), neither party had issued 72-hour notice of strike or lockout nor had there been any labour disruption. Regular operations at B.C. ports continued uninterrupted. The parties are scheduled to continue the CIRB hearing next week. It is widely expected that if the CIRB rules in the union’s favour, then the strike notice will be given immediately.
August 28, 2024 – With the rail strike now seemingly over, focus now switches to Air Canada as the largest airline in Canada may also encounter labour trouble in a few weeks. Air Canada yesterday issued the following update on its ongoing contract negotiations with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA). Air Canada’s intention remains to reach a negotiated settlement with its pilots, one that recognizes their professionalism and contributions to the airline. During the talks, there has been significant progress and the three-week cooling off period gives the parties more than sufficient time to address any outstanding issues. Air Canada is fully committed to bargaining meaningfully throughout the period. For more information about Air Canada’s ongoing contract negotiations with the ALPA, please let us know.
August 25, 2024 – The teamsters union has appeared to accept the ruling from the CIRB and have stated that they will return to work at both CN and CPKC starting tomorrow, Monday August 26th while they attempt a legal challenge. For our customers, this 4 day strike will now likely take about 1 month for the railways to recover from and to return to normal operations. Your cargo will be moving but it will be a slow recovery so please be patient with us as we attempt to find out when your cargo will be moved. Thank you!
August 24, 2024 – The CIRB has now ruled that the union must return to work at CN and CPKC. There has not been any confirmation from the union if it will honor this ruling. More news as it develops.
August 23, 2024 – In a predictable move, the Teamsters union has just served CN Rail with 72-hour strike notice and Teamsters has also challenged the minister’s move to resume rail services as CPKC lockout drags on. This puts the semi good news of this morning on a hold and we are back to a potential strike that would begin on Monday.
August 23, 2024 – A further development this morning as CN Rail’s union has announced that they will close their picket line and return to work as per the minister’s request. CPKC’s union has not made the same commitment.
August 23, 2024 – As predicted this morning, news has now emerged that the union has refused to abide by the Labour Minister’s request for binding arbitration. As a result, the rail strike will continue until either the union agrees to abide by the request and/or back to work legislation has occurred.
August 23, 2024 – Despite yesterday’s move by the Canadian government to force binding arbitration on the two sides in the railway strike, whether the railway strike is actually over has not yet been finalized. The key reason is that the union still must agree to abide by this ruling and put down its signs and close their pickets. A similar situation happened in July when the government tried to stop the Westjet strike only to be embarrassed when the union refused its order. The union is consulting its legal counsel on next steps. If the union does not agree, then the government has no choice but to order parliament back to session and pass back to work legislation. As this is a minority government, there is also doubt whether or not this can be accomplished. Canaan Transport is cautiously optimistic that the strike may come to a close soon but even if the union agrees today to immediately head back to work, it will take upwards of 1-2 weeks to fully recover the rail schedule.