If you wander down Water street to look at the visiting cruise ships this week, you will also notice an information picket.
Pat Riley of the International Longshoremen’s Association is disputing what they call a bad faith situation on the part of Port Saint John regarding two cases of jurisdiction where the Port would not sign an agreement unless it was on a “without prejudice” basis meaning it’s not binding.
“That threw the deal in the garbage can as far as we’re concerned, we need a binding deal,” Riley told Acadia news.
Patrick Colford of the New Brunswick Federation of Labour was also lending support.
“These men who work here are extremely loyal so it’s about time the Port show a little bit of respect back,” Colford says.
Carl Risser of the International Transportation Federation is based in Halifax and he tells us they will support the ILA with the ship owners adding people may be surprised to learn that picketing near cruise ships is more common than most people realize.
We reached out to Port Saint John and received a statement.
It says the ILA 273 has a labour grievance before the Port of Saint John Employers Association on a matter of work jurisdiction and it has a right
to grieve and set up information pickets about the grievance.
The statement points out the Saint John Port Authority is not a member of Port of Saint John Employer Association which is described as an independent entity composed of employers of labour at the Port of Saint John.
The marine terminal named in the grievance is not under lease to any member of the Port of Saint John Employers Association.
