(Bloomberg) -- Two major terminals at Montreal Port operated by Terminal Termont Inc. will close next week as unionized dockworkers prepare for a three-day strike starting Monday.
“Operations, including service to truckers, will resume on Thursday,” the container terminal operator said Friday in a statement on its website.
The 1,200 dockworkers, represented by the Port of Montreal Longshoremen’s Union, have been without a collective agreement since Dec. 31, 2023, and talks are nearing an impasse over wages and work-life balance. The union gave 72-hour strike notice on Friday to the Maritime Employers Association.
Montreal Port Authority has activated a business continuity plan to ensure the actions don’t affect the rest of the port operations, according to a statement published Friday on its website.
“Although negotiations are continuing, we are disappointed that they have not, to date, enabled both parties to reach an agreement, while nearly C$6 billion ($4.4 billion) worth of goods are expected to arrive on the Port of Montreal’s docks in the coming weeks,” Chief Executive Officer Julie Gascon said in the statement.
The Montreal Port, Canada’s second-largest container port, has four terminals. Two terminals operated by Montreal Gateway Terminals Partnership won’t be impacted by the work stoppage.
The labor action in Montreal comes amid the threat of a strike next week in major US East Coast ports, and after grain workers at Vancouver Port, Canada’s biggest port, went on strike Tuesday.
--With assistance from Thomas Seal.
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