Saint Lawrence Seaway workers strike on Montreal's South Shore

Striking workers with the Saint Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation are demonstrating Monday in Saint-Lambert on Montreal's South Shore, some 30 hours after initiating a work stoppage.

Unifor says negotiations preceding the strike failed to reach a satisfactory agreement for its union members.

The demonstration is taking place near des Écluses Street, which links Route 112 to the Victoria Bridge.

There was no reported obstruction to traffic.

A 72-hour strike notice was issued on Oct. 18 by the union, which represents some 360 seaway workers.

Unifor's Quebec director, Daniel Cloutier, stated in a press release that the union remains open to discussion.

Early Monday morning, Unifor communications representative Véronique Figliuzzi indicated no negotiation meetings had yet been scheduled.

Unifor reports that the main stumbling block is wages.

Sunday, the union stated that the two parties were still "1000 nautical miles" apart on this issue.

The Saint Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation says it hopes a ruling will be made under the Canada Labour Code to demand that the union provide employees during the strike to ensure that vessels involved in grain transportation will not be halted.

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 23, 2023.