Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
peterblack@qctonline.com
Business leaders around the country are calling for an end to the strike by some 360 port workers along the St. Lawrence Seaway that began Oct. 22.
As of this writing, a tentative agreement had been reached between Unifor, the union representing workers, and the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp., the federally mandated body that operates the Seaway from Lake Erie to Montreal, and employees have returned to work pending ratification.
At least 100 ships along the seaway have been on hold pending resolution of the strike. Particularly sensitive is food cargo, such as grain, as harvests from Western Canada are moved eastward for shipments to markets around the world. Among the other commodities the ports handle are iron ore, petroleum products, stone and coal.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce issued a statement on Oct. 27 decrying the mounting losses as the strike entered its second week. It estimated the “impact of activity will have reached a staggering figure of nearly $900 million.”
Pascal Chan, the Chamber’s senior director for transportation, said, “This strike impacts businesses on both sides of the border and is harmful to our reputation as a reliable trading partner. We need leadership from the federal government to use every tool at their disposal to ensure a quick resolution.”
According to the Seaway corporation website, “Cargo shipments on the Great Lakes-Seaway waterway generate US$ 50 billion of economic activity and 356,858 jobs in Canada and the U.S.”
The striking port workers are seeking higher wages and improved working conditions.
The ripple effects of the strike have reached the Port of Quebec, where five of the six ships expected in port this weekend failed to appear as scheduled, according to Port spokesperson Frédéric Lagacé. The port has been at the centre of a labour dispute of its own for more than a year; dock workers represented by the Canadian public service union have been locked out by their employer, the Société des arrimeurs de Québec. The locked-out workers have been replaced by non-union workers.