A month-long truckers strike at the Port of Montreal came to an end earlier this week after 250 owner-operators, out of 900 original protestors, returned to work.

According to the Journal of Commerce, the strike couldn't compete with the emergency back-to-work law and replacement truckers brought in by the Quebec provincial government at double pay. The protest, which was spearheaded by the Confederation of National Trade Unions, was eventually ruled illegal by the province.
The independent went on strike Oct. 22 after two years of trying to join a small truckers union affiliated with the CNTU. The 40 trucking companies they worked for refused their efforts to get a union-negotiated collective agreement.
Sixty-six percent of the striking owner-operators voted in favor of returning to work for the port. Of those that voted, about 100 had been fired by the companies they worked for and told they would not be taken back, Henri Goulet, spokesman for the CNTU, told the Journal.
The article said the Quebec and federal governments will look into issues surrounding the intermodal container traffic at Montreal, and will make recommendations including whether independent truckers can be unionized.
Goulet told the paper that many of the truckers are trying to set up their own trucking company to compete with their former employers.
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