First, I should point out that the port authority and the employers' association are two separate entities. However, as I said earlier in my testimony, when it comes to legal action against the Longshoremen's Union, they're buddy-buddy, they're represented by the same law firm and they use the same delaying tactics. They did it to us last time for a year and a half before the Administrative Labour Tribunal.
In our testimony, we say that we don't have the real decision-makers, the real payers, in front of us. The real decision-makers are not the port authority or the employers' association, they are the shipping companies established in the port, such as Hapag‑Lloyd, Maersk and MSC Canada. They sit on the board of directors, and it's they who really make the decisions on the parameters of a negotiation or the renewal of a collective agreement. However, we never have them in front of us to explain our union demands and to tell them why we think a change in working hours could have a positive effect on productivity. Instead, we have a group of letter carriers in front of us, taking our messages to the board of directors, to whom they are supposed to sell our demands. It's a ridiculous negotiating system. We never have the real decision-makers in front of us.
Nothing would stop these companies from coming to the table and saying they're ready to hear the union's ideas for increasing their productivity. We certainly have ideas for how our members can benefit from a better work-life balance. Happy employees would probably have a positive effect on motivation and productivity in the port, but we're never able to address these companies.