The strike at the Old Port of Montreal will continue after 300 workers rejected the latest contract offer in a close vote, the workers’ union announced Thursday.
“The last four months have not been easy for the (workers). The members chose to reject the tentative agreement. We respect this choice and the strike will continue as mandated by its members,” said Konrad Lamour, president of the Syndicat des employés du Vieux-Port de Montréal.
The union bargaining committee is ready to meet with the employer, Lamour said. In order to not jeopardize the negotiation process, the union said it will not publicly reveal the issues that remain in dispute.
Management at the Old Port of Montréal Corporation said it was “dismayed” that workers rejected the offer. It noted that the agreement in principle “had been accepted by both parties and endorsed by the union and would have allowed all employees to return to work.”
The union had accepted the offer after “a bargaining blitz undertaken with the mediator assigned to the dispute.”
The Old Port said the agreement called for a 12-per-cent wage increase over five years, as well as the creation of a joint committee “to analyze the overall compensation of unionized jobs as compared to the market.”
Management made public a document that outlines some of the terms of the offer that was rejected.
