Employers order lockout at Montreal port

Employers order lockout at Montreal port    An employer group said it has ordered a lockout of longshoremen who work at marine terminals in the Port of Montreal beginning on Monday morning.
   The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said commercial operations at the Port of Montreal have come to a halt.
   “Faced with the union's refusal to acknowledge the urgency of the matter as well as the need to radically amend the collective agreement between the Maritime Employers Association and the Port of Montreal's longshoremen, and in order to avoid compromising port activities, the MEA has chosen to exercise its legal right according to the labor code and is ordering a lockout as of today for some 850 employees covered by the accreditation certificate held by the Longshoremen's Union, CUPE, Local 375,” the employer group said in a statement issued Sunday.
   “The main issue is job and revenue security. 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,” it added.
   “While this is not a desirable outcome, it had no other choice but to order a lockout, given that pressure tactics have begun to impede port operations,' the group said.
   “The Port of Montreal's activity and sustainability remain priorities and MEA's management hopes that this situation will prompt union representatives to look more realistically at the challenges ahead for the maritime sector.'
   The MEA is a non-profit organization representing member companies involved in shipping. Membership in the association includes ship owners, operators and agents, stevedoring contractors and terminal operators. On behalf of its members, the association negotiates and administrates collective agreements covering over 1,450 longshoremen in Hamilton, Toronto, Montreal and Trois-Rivi'res/B'cancour.