The federal labour minister ordered an end to work stoppages at Canada’s largest ports in British Columbia and Quebec on Tuesday, imposing “final and binding arbitration” on the parties.
Dock workers at Canada’s busiest ports are both locked out after unions and employers failed to reach a deal at the table. Workers at the Port of Montreal took to the picket lines on Sunday night, joining their already locked-out peers at B.C. ports.
The labour action has stymied the flow of more than $1.2 billion worth of goods flowing through those channels on a daily basis.
Steve MacKinnon told reporters Tuesday that, despite directing the parties back to the table in recent days, there has been little progress in negotiations.
He said he has directed the Canada Industrial Relations Board to “order that all operations and duties at the ports resume and to assist the parties in settling their collective agreements by imposing final and binding arbitration.”
MacKinnon said he expected work to resume in “a matter of days.”
The order to restart operations includes workers at ports in B.C. and in Montreal, as well as longshoremen working at the Port of Quebec, who have now been locked out for more than two years.
MacKinnon cited the impact on Canada’s economy, reputation as a reliable trading partner and on jobs connected to the ports as justification for the move.
“We rely on the movement of goods through our ports. If these work stoppages go on, the impacts will only worsen and our well-earned reputation for reliability will be put at risk,” he said.
“Canadians … have limited tolerance for economic self-harm,” MacKinnon added.
Second instance of binding arbitration this year
This marks the second time in a matter of months that the Liberal government has imposed binding arbitration to end a labour stoppage, last using such powers to end a shutdown at Canada’s two largest railway companies in August.
The Teamsters union representing workers at CN Rail and CPKC launched a lawsuit against the government to appeal the decision to bring about an end to that work stoppage. The matter is still before the courts.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh blasted the Liberal government’s moves in a statement Tuesday. He accused Justin Trudeau and his party of caving to “corporate greed” and stripping power from unions.
“Canadians will pay for Trudeau’s anti-worker attack,” Singh said. “Back-to-work orders suppress wages for all Canadians, so billionaires get richer and the rest of Canadians fall further behind. And especially in the case of the ports negotiations, Trudeau’s order is putting good Canadian jobs at risk.”
Singh added that “the only place to get a fair deal is at the bargaining table.”
MacKinnon said he understand there will be debate about the decision to use binding arbitration again so soon, but added that he would “welcome that debate.”
He reiterated that the Liberal government believes the best collective bargaining agreements are reached at the table, but said federal mediators told him in recent days that there was no momentum towards getting a deal at any of the ports.
At that juncture, with the scale of economic impact at risk, MacKinnon said, “any responsible government” would step in.
“As the economic losses threaten the country and begin to mount, it is up to the government to ensure that a fair settlement is reached,” MacKinnon said.
He argued that “arbitration leads to fair settlements,” but acknowledged they are “maybe not as durable as those that are reached at the bargaining table.”
But he said the action would be enough “that we can get on with the economic life of this country and avoid layoffs and other carnage in many of our commercial sectors and for workers and their families.”
More to come.
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