Canada orders binding arbitration to end port lockout

With the lockouts, $930m of goods are being affected daily, affecting supply chains and local economy, the government says.

Canada’s labour minister is intervening to end the lockouts of workers at the country’s two biggest ports.

Minister of Labour Steven Mackinnon said on Tuesday that the negotiations had reached an impasse and he was directing the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order the resumption of all operations at the ports of Vancouver and Montreal and move the talks to binding arbitration.

Port of Montreal’s workers were locked out on Sunday and workers in Vancouver on the Pacific Coast have been locked out since November 4.

“There is a limit to the economic self-destruction that Canadians are prepared to accept,” MacKinnon said. “In the face of economic self-destruction, there is an obligation to intervene. As minister of labour, that responsibility falls to me.”

MacKinnon said 1.3 billion Canadian dollars ($930m) of goods is affected every day. He said it was affecting supply chains, the economy and Canada’s reputation as a reliable trading partner.

Business groups have been calling for government intervention to get the flow of goods moving again.

MacKinnon says he hopes operations can be restored in a matter of days.

The Maritime Employers Association locked out 1,200 longshore workers at the Port of Montreal on Sunday after workers voted to reject what employers called a final contract offer. The workers were seeking increases of 20 percent over four years.

The job action came after port workers in British Columbia were locked out amid a labour dispute involving more than 700 longshore supervisors, resulting in a paralysis of container cargo traffic at terminals on the West Coast.

International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514, which represents supervisory longshore workers at the heart of the British Columbia dispute, said it will file a legal challenge to the minister’s orders.

“We will fight this order in the courts,” said Frank Morena, ILWU Local 514 president, in a statement.

“And we will not forget how these employers and this federal Liberal government have attacked not only the ILWU but all of labour.”

Forced to intervene

It was the second time in a few months that the Liberal government has stepped in to halt a dispute. In August, it ordered an end to work stoppages at the country’s two largest railway companies.

The left-leaning government has previously stated its preference for resolving labour disputes through collective bargaining. MacKinnon said he had been forced to intervene after federal mediators reported that the talks at Montreal and Vancouver were at an impasse.

The left-of-centre opposition New Democrats, a pro-union party which is propping up the minority Liberal government, accused Ottawa of caving in to employers.

“Back-to-work orders suppress wages for all Canadians, so billionaires get richer and the rest of Canadians fall further behind,” leader Jagmeet Singh said in a statement but made no mention of withdrawing support from the Liberals.

The Teamsters union, which represents employees at the two main rail companies that were embroiled in a labour dispute in August, has filed court challenges against rulings by the labour board that forced them back to work.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Labour Congress said in a statement, “The government is sending a dangerous message: Employers can bypass meaningful negotiations, lock out their workers, and wait for political intervention to secure a more favourable deal,”