Toddlers on the hiring list: Montreal dockworkers union responds to nepotism accusations

The union representing dockworkers at the Port of Montreal says it has ended a long-standing hiring practice that has been criticized for fostering nepotism — to the point where workers' preschool offspring were placed on a list of potential employees.

The union representing dockworkers at the Port of Montreal says it has ended a long-standing hiring practice that has been criticized for fostering nepotism — to the point where workers' preschool offspring were placed on a list of potential employees.

For decades, the association of shipping companies that use the port has hired longshore workers from a list supplied by the union — a list created by asking each union member to provide a single name.

But the Maritime Employers Association has argued the list is a recipe for nepotism, resulting in few women candidates or members of ethnic minorities, but in some instances children who were barely out of diapers.

In April, a labour arbitrator ordered a series of changes after finding it was impossible for people to get their names on the list unless they were related to current dockworkers.

"It appeared that this list contained, almost exclusively, the names of family members of each of the longshore workers, without any verification of merit or the ability of these people to do the job of a longshore worker," Nathalie Faucher wrote in her decision. She found that the list amounted to employment discrimination based on family situation, which is banned under federal human rights law.

In another decision on the matter last year, Faucher had noted the employer's contention that "certain candidates appearing on the union's master list are currently children under three years of age."

Since 2015, 50 per cent of longshore workers have been hired from the union's list — previously all hires were drawn from the list.