The workers at the Saint John Port Authority are currently in contract negotiations. Those of us lucky enough to live in port cities throughout the region just have to look at the growing traffic in our harbours to understand how vital the work that port workers do —both for our own communities and the Canadian economy. In fact, the transportation and warehousing sector contributed just over $4.0B to Atlantic Canada’s GDP in 2024.
During the pandemic, empty grocery store shelves taught us all a lesson about supply chains which highlighted the importance of port, shipping, and logistics workers. In 2024, dockworkers across the American East and Gulf coasts went on strike, drawing more attention to just how crucial this work is — and how undervalued their work has been.
Port authorities have seen massive increases in container and cruise ship traffic over the past few years, leading to a growth in revenues that remain unseen in the salaries of the workers who are the backbone of these increases. The Saint John Port saw a 29.4 per cent increase in container traffic in 2025. The New Brunswick Port has led the country with five-year growth in container traffic of more than 175 per cent.
In a recent press release Craig Bell Estabrooks, President & CEO of Port Saint John, called 2025 “a defining year”. The Port Authority rewarded Estabrooks with a more than 30 per cent salary increase for his part in this success. However, it remains to be seen whether the members of PSAC-UCTE local 61124 will be similarly rewarded for their contributions.
With the Saint John Port Authority projecting additional growth in 2026, the container sector is expected to contribute $125.7 million to the province’s GDP in the current year. America’s ILA strike was about workers demanding to see their contributions to the growth in this industry recognized. As companies see their profits grow, workers deserve to be paid fairly for the work they do to make this growth possible.
Without port workers, cruise ships can’t dock, groceries don’t make it to store shelves, and Canadian products don’t make it to the global market. The lesson from the ILA strike is that it is time to pay your workers what they’re worth because, without them, nothing works.
Chris Di Liberatore is the Regional Executive Vice-President of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) Atlantic. PSAC Atlantic represents over 30,000 members in Atlantic Canada, including workers at the Saint John Port Authority, Halifax Port Authority, Atlantic Pilotage Authority, and St. John’s Port Authority.