The Minister of Labour, Filomena Tassi, has issued a statement regarding the collective bargaining negotiations between the Syndicat des débardeurs, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 375 and the Maritime Employers Association. The statement indicates two senior mediators that were recently added to the negotiations concluded after seven days of meetings that the gap between the parties is too significant at this time to conclude a collective agreement. The mediators will remain in close contact with the parties and will reconvene the parties if positions change. Read the Minister’s statement here. The 19-day strike in August 2020 ended with a seven month truce to negotiate a new contract by March 20, 2021. As any strike mandate needs to be renewed every 60 days to ensure working conditions are respected, a strike vote was carried out this week and the results are yet to be announced. The Port of Montreal states that the strike last summer cost wholesalers $600 million in sales over a two-month period.
