Potential Marine Atlantic Strike Could Disrupt Summer Travel Season

A labour dispute between Marine Atlantic and Unifor could lead to a strike later this month, raising concerns about possible disruptions to ferry service during the busy summer travel season.

Unifor, which represents workers at the federally operated ferry service, has said conciliation talks with Marine Atlantic have broken down. The current conciliation period is scheduled to end on June 8, followed by a mandatory 21-day cooling-off period.

Workers could be in a legal strike position by the end of June.

The union represents employees working aboard vessels and in shore-based operations. While no strike date has been announced, the dispute comes as thousands of passengers and commercial carriers prepare for peak summer travel between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.

Marine Atlantic operates the constitutionally mandated ferry service between North Sydney, N.S., and Port aux Basques, N.L., as well as the seasonal route between North Sydney and Argentia.

Any work stoppage could affect passenger travel, commercial freight movement and tourism traffic entering and leaving the province. The extent of any service disruption would depend on whether essential services are required to continue operating.