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On Monday, the Maritime Employers Association (MEA) launched a lockout of about 850 longshoremen at the Port of Montreal. The longshoremen are represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Local 375.

A non-profit organization that represents member shipping companies, MEA took the job action to avoid compromising port activities while the parties continue to face the need to “radically” amend a collective agreement, association officials said in a prepared statement.
 
“The main issue is job and revenue security,” they said. “Considering existing market conditions, MEA can no longer accept such a large gap between the amount of hours worked and paid for by longshoremen, and the amount of hours not worked but fully paid for.”
 
MEA officials hope the lockout “will prompt union representatives to look more realistically at the challenges ahead for the maritime sector,” they said.

However, CUPE officials view the lockout as “incomprehensible and pointless,” union officials said in a statement. Longshoremen had refused to work overtime beginning July 9 because on June 27, the port “targeted 169 longshoremen with the least seniority” and changed their working conditions, “depriving” them of income and “stability,” CUPE officials said.

"The solution is for the employer to let the work continue, in the port and at the negotiating table, and in the next few weeks, we’ll have an agreement," said union representative Michel Murray.

The longshoremen have worked without a contract since Dec. 31, 2008, according to CUPE.

Meanwhile, Montreal Port Authority (MPA) officials hope the parties come to an agreement soon "so that the port activities affected by the conflict can return to normal as soon as possible," they said in a statement. All marine activities, rail operations and truck traffic have been halted since the lockout, according to the MPA. The port operates its own rail network and is served by CN and Canadian Pacific.