SYDNEY, N.S. -- An international trade union is calling on a cruise ship to bypass Cape Breton until a simmering labour dispute is settled at the Port of Sydney.
Gerard Bradbury, an inspector with the International Transport Workers' Federation, says he has submitted the request to Nautilus, the union in the Netherlands representing workers aboard the MS Veendam, a Holland America Lines cruise ship.
The vessel is slated to be Sydney's first cruise ship of the season on May 7.
The federation is protesting a recent decision by Sydney Ports Corp. to replace 13 unionized stevedores with six non-unionized workers.
The stevedores, member of the Unifor Local 4624, had handled cruise ship arrivals and departures for years.
Sydney Ports Corp. has said it chose to end its reliance on third-party contractors after a workplace accident in October involving a stevedore.
The non-profit corporation has said it hired its own people to bring them under its safety rules.
