Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon has ordered the Canada Industrial Relations Board to intervene in labour disputes at Canadian ports in a move to impose binding arbitration.
The decision on Tuesday by Mr. MacKinnon will affect four B.C. ports, the Port of Montreal and the Port of Quebec.
“I have directed the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order the resumption of all operations and functions at the ports, and to assist the parties by imposing final and binding arbitration,” he said in a statement. “I have also directed the board to extend the term of the existing collective agreements until new ones are reached.”
The BC Maritime Employers Association locked out about 730 ship and dock forepersons on Nov. 4, hours after the union started what it called limited strike action that included a ban on overtime.
Members of Local 514 are supervisors of 7,400 workers at the International Longshore & Warehouse Union Canada.
The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority oversees Canada’s largest port while three other B.C. authorities are responsible for locations in Prince Rupert in Northern B.C. and the Vancouver Island communities of Nanaimo and Port Alberni.
The previous five-year collective agreement at Local 514 expired on March 31, 2023.
Nationally, over the past two years alone, a series of work stoppages have hit Canada’s supply chain, including last year at the St. Lawrence Seaway and this year at the Port of Montreal, where a lockout began on Sunday night.
“The work stoppages at the ports of British Columbia and the Port of Montreal are significantly impacting our supply chains, thousands of Canadian jobs, our economy, and our reputation as a reliable trading partner,” Mr. MacKinnon said. “The dispute at the Port of Quebec has been dragging on for more than two years without any sign of resolution despite significant mediation support.”
The Trudeau government has been reluctant in the past to force an end to labour disputes, preferring to put its faith in the collective bargaining process. Last month, the minister tried to reset faltering talks between the two sides in Montreal by proposing to appoint a special mediator and bar work stoppages for 90 days but that was rejected by the parties.
In this case, however, negotiations have broken down. And with port activity on both sides of the country at a near standstill, the government was under pressure to act.
Issuing a directive to impose binding arbitration is what the government did in ending lockouts at Canada’s two railways this past summer. But it carries both legal and political risk, chiefly because some unions have opposed it.
The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference has challenged the arbitration order imposed at both Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. to the Federal Court of Appeal, saying the right to collectively bargain its a constitutional guarantee. Without it, unions lose leverage to negotiate better wages and safer working conditions, the union says.
“These decisions, if left unchallenged, set a dangerous precedent where a single politician can bust a union at will,” Teamsters President Paul Boucher has said.
– with a report by Nicolas Van Praet
