Dockworkers General Strike at the Port of Montreal

On Monday, April 26th, dockworkers at the Port of Montreal have undertaken an unlimited general strike, voted in by the 1150-strong membership of local 375 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees at a rate of over 99%. This comes in response to years of bad faith bargaining by the employer and specifically in retaliation for pressure tactics affecting the workers’ schedules and base rate of pay. Shamefully, the federal Liberal government has adopted back-to-work legislation which will force the workers back to work without acknowledging the conditions they are facing at the bargaining table. This profoundly anti-democratic, anti-union, and anti-working class action is a fundamental attack on hard-won rights by workers in all sectors, and has a chilling effect on the labour movement as a whole, especially now that hundreds of thousands of public sector workers in Quebec are currently negotiating themselves. The Greek Workers Association of Quebec condemns these actions by the federal government and sends our unwavering working class solidarity to the dockworkers in struggle.