U.S. port strike begins with major implications for Canada’s economy

Workers at 36 U.S. ports from Maine to Texas took to the picket lines early Tuesday in a strike over wages and automation while a 72-hour stoppage kicked off in Montreal on Monday.

Dockworkers across the eastern United States are joining their peers on strike at Montreal ports as a fresh wave of labour action grips North American supply chains.

Workers at 36 U.S. ports from Maine to Texas took to the picket lines early Tuesday in a strike over wages and automation.

The contract between the ports and about 45,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association expired at midnight.

Workers at the Port of Philadelphia walked in a circle outside the port and chanted, “No work without a fair contract.” The union, striking for the first time since 1977, had message boards on the side of a truck reading, “Automation Hurts Families: ILA Stands For Job Protection.”

The U.S. Maritime Alliance, which represents the ports, said Monday evening that both sides had moved off of their previous wage offers. But no deal was reached.

Montreal’s dockworkers meanwhile began a 72-hour strike on Monday. That action shut down two terminals that handle some 40 per cent of container traffic at Canada’s second-largest port.

The union local, affiliated with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, says the pressure tactic aims to lend weight to demands around regular scheduling and higher wages.

On Sunday, the Maritime Employers Association (MEA) said it had tried “all possible means” of avoiding a strike, including in mediation and at an emergency hearing before the Canada Industrial Relations Board that afternoon.