Facing a strike that would shut down traffic on the waterway as early as Sunday, the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. has asked for an order confirming that grain would need to continue moving.
Unifor, the union representing over 360 seaway workers across five union locals in Ontario and Quebec, on Wednesday served the corporation with 72 hours’ strike notice.
The SLSMC said Friday an application is being made to the Canada Industrial Relations Board, seeking an order to confirm how section 87.7(3) of the Canada Labour Code — relating to movement of grain during a strike or lockout — will apply in this case.
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Under that section, either a union or an employer can apply to the CIRB to determine any question of how section 87.7(1) applies and “make any order it considers appropriate to ensure compliance with that subsection.”
Section 87.7(1) of the Code requires longshore or other workers to “continue to provide the services they normally provide to ensure the tie-up, let-go and loading of grain vessels at licensed terminal and transfer elevators, and the movement of the grain vessels in and out of a port.”
That section of the Code kept bulk grain vessels moving during a month-long B.C. longshore workers’ strike this summer. However, traffic in containerized pulse crops and other agricultural goods and commodities does not have such an exemption under the Code.
In all, as of Friday, there are more than 80 vessels, 40 of which are ocean-going, still in the Seaway, the SLSMC said.
The corporation said it “will continue negotiating in an effort to reach a new agreement without disruption of service” before Sunday.
Unifor said in a separate release Friday it’s “willing to continue negotiations with (SLSMC) after the scheduled bargaining dates” to try to reach an agreement ahead of the strike deadline of 11:59 p.m. Saturday.
Talks “will continue until the very last minute in an attempt to reach a deal,” the union said, but added that “at this time the union and employer remain 1,000 nautical miles apart on wages.”
SLSMC said it hopes talks can lead to a solution “adapted to the Seaway’s reality as a not-for-profit corporation.”
However, it added, progress “continues to be slow as the high union wage demands could potentially lead to increasing tolls to a level that would make the waterway less competitive and eventually increase the price for the goods that transit through it.”
“It’s really up to the employer at this point to seal this deal and avoid any transit disruption,” Unifor Quebec director Daniel Cloutier said in the union’s release. “These are jobs that require intense training, a high level of understanding of the health and safety risks, and that carry enormous responsibility for the well-being of seafarers and their cargo.”
SLSMC added Friday that the “necessary steps for an orderly shutdown are now underway, including providing cut-off times for vessels to safely clear the Seaway system” before a work stoppage begins. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
