Montreal dockworkers reject employer's offer, approve strike mandate

Dockworkers at the Port of Montreal have approved a strike mandate after more than a year of contract negotiations.

Longshore workers voted 99.6 per cent against the Maritime Employers Association's offer and 97.9 per cent in favour of granting their union executive the authority to call a strike if it chooses.

The local union, affiliated with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, would need to issue a 72-hour notice before its nearly 1,200 members could walk off the job.

As far back as May, a handful of transport companies began to reroute cargo away from the country's second-biggest port over fears of potential job action.

Montreal dockworkers last hit the picket lines in August 2020 in a 12-day strike that left 11,500 containers languishing on the waterfront.

The parties remain in mediation, and the Maritime Employers Association says it hopes to hash out a deal at the table in the coming days.