The Trudeau government must act quickly to force the return to work of the port of Montreal longshoremen, who have been on indefinite general strike since Monday morning, according to representatives of Quebec Inc.
• Read also: Beginning of the indefinite general strike at the Port of Montreal
This is the message that the five main representatives of the business community of the province tried to convey Monday during a rare joint press conference in Montreal.
Courtesy photo
Michel Leblanc. CEO CCMM
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“The effects of a prolonged strike on the economy of Montreal and Quebec will be devastating. […] We must act now, impose arbitration and demand a return to work, ”declared Michel Leblanc, President and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal (CCMM).
After two weeks of disruptions at the port, Quebec inc. believes that the strike is taking the economy of the province hostage at a time when all efforts should instead be focused on its recovery. After the CN strike, the rail blockade and containment, the timing could not be more ill-chosen for SMEs, argued the CEO of Manufacturiers et exportateurs du Québec (MEQ), Véronique Proulx.
Trudeau in reinforcement?
Together, the Conseil du patronat du Québec, the CCMM, the MEQ, the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec (FCCQ) and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business have called for the immediate intervention of the government of Justin Trudeau in order to force a return to normal activities as soon as possible.
“If the federal government has the economy of Quebec, Ontario and Canada at heart, it should act immediately with a dispute arbitration process,” said Philippe Noël, Director of Strategy and Economic Affairs of the FCCQ.
Otherwise, we fear, this strike will have “disastrous consequences for thousands of businesses in Quebec”.
The Journal tried unsuccessfully to obtain the reaction of the Federal Minister of Labor, Filomena Tassi, and her colleague in Transport, Marc Garneau, who had answered the call of maritime employers.
Employer burlesque
For his part, the representative of the Union of longshoremen, without a collective agreement since December 2018, described as “burlesque”, this latest output of employers’ organizations.
“There is something staggering about this inability of Quebec inc.-caviar to recognize workers’ right to exercise their legal right to strike,” responded their representative, Michel Murray. It’s the kind of obsession that calls for admiration. “
“Really,” he continues, “I don’t know what planet these people live on. These are the same people who, while denying the rights of workers, are not screwed to demand the minimum wage of $ 15 for Quebeckers. “
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