Tension in Montreal as union condemns use of ‘scab’ labour

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The inside story of this week’s four-day strike at the Canadian gateway port of Montreal courtesy of container-news.com. The news site reports that the industrial action launched yesterday revolves around the use of non-union staff and the continuing efforts by unions to renew the collective bargaining agreement with the port’s terminal employers that expired at the end of 2018. At one Montreal box terminal, management executives reportedly performed dockworkers’ activities. “Unions saw the move as provocative and believe that the term ‘management’ was being used loosely by employers as a method of bringing in scab labour to work the terminals.”