Union says it will challenge Ottawa’s intervention in the work stoppage at the Port of B.C

The union representing locked-out dockworkers in British Columbia is considering filing a lawsuit after the federal government took steps to end the work stoppage.

Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon intervened Tuesday to end lockouts at ports in both British Columbia and Montreal, directing the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order the resumption of all operations and move talks to binding arbitration.

In B.C., the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Ship & Dock Foremen Local 514 called the government’s move an insult to the union and workers’ bargaining rights.

“We will challenge this order in court. We will challenge the arbitrated forced contract in court,” Frank Morena, president of the local court, said in a news release.

Port workers in British Columbia were locked out last week in a labor dispute involving more than 700 longshore supervisors, halting container freight traffic at West Coast terminals.

Across the country, the Maritime Employers Association locked out 1,200 longshoremen at the Port of Montreal on Sunday evening after workers voted to reject what employers called a final contract offer.

The labor minister said Tuesday that negotiations had reached an impasse, with the work stoppages impacting supply chains, thousands of jobs and Canada’s reputation as a reliable trading partner.

“Negotiated agreements are the best path forward, but we cannot allow other Canadians to suffer if certain parties fail to fulfill their responsibility to reach an agreement,” MacKinnon said in a statement announcing the decision.

“It is my duty and responsibility to act in the best interests of businesses, workers, farmers, families and all Canadians.”

MacKinnon said he hopes port operations can be restored within days.

The BC union’s announcement comes after Teamsters Canada challenged Ottawa’s intervention using the same mechanism in a nationwide rail work shutdown earlier this year.

Labor experts have warned that the government’s decision to intervene in these disputes could set a dangerous precedent that undermines workers’ rights.

“It further undermines employers’ incentives to reach an agreement at the bargaining table because it reinforces the idea that they can drag things out and wait for government intervention to solve their problems for them,” says Barry Eidlin , associate professor of sociology at the University of California. McGill University.

“The purpose of the lockout was not to put pressure on the workers; it was to put pressure on the government to intervene.”

Business groups had called for government intervention to restart the flow of goods, with the current disputes just the latest in a number of recent supply chain disruptions they say are damaging Canada’s economy.

Bridgitte Anderson, chair of the Great Vancouver Board of Trade, said in a statement Tuesday that “an estimated $6.1 billion in trade was disrupted at B.C.’s ports alone, impacting key industries across the country.”

“The economic toll of the fourth major disruption to our supply chains has been severe,” she said.

Several unions on Tuesday denounced the government’s decision to intervene.

The Quebec chapter of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the nearly 1,200 longshoremen at the Port of Montreal, called it a “dark day for workers’ rights.”

“The right to collective bargaining is a constitutional right,” the union said in a press release in French.

The Teamsters have also weighed in, saying the Secretary’s decision violates Charter rights.

“Unions will fight this to the end,” François Laporte, national president of Teamsters Canada, said in a statement.

The federal NDP echoed the unions’ criticism, accusing Ottawa of violating union rights and pandering to corporate interests.

Alison Braley-Rattai, associate professor of labor at Brock University, said the mechanism used by MacKinnon allows the government to bypass the process of passing return-to-work legislation, meaning they don’t have to rely of the support of other parties. in the House of Representatives.

“What we are seeing now, at least in the federal sector, seems very cynical,” she said in an email, in which employers are accelerating a work stoppage so they can ask the government to impose arbitration.

There are consequences to government intervention in labor disputes, Braley-Rattai added: If employers believe they can use lockouts to obtain binding arbitration, they may have an incentive to delay negotiations “to the point where a lockout seems like the obvious next step. “

“Continued reliance on binding arbitration could make it more difficult for the parties to actually reach their own negotiated settlements in the future,” she said.

“Governments must therefore be cautious with interventions.”

At a news conference Tuesday, MacKinnon said he is not taking the decision to intervene in the collective bargaining process lightly, but that the talks were all at an impasse with no immediate resolution moving forward. That made the duration of the strike unclear and created a real economic risk, he said.

“And Canadians currently have a limited tolerance for economic self-harm,” he said.

The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business expressed relief at the government’s intervention. However, both said it is clear a longer-term solution is needed to avoid future disruptions.

The current disputes come less than a year and a half after several workers at most of B.C.’s port terminals went on strike for 13 days in July 2023.

Earlier this year, the government announced an investigation into that strike to prevent economic disruptions of that magnitude.

MacKinnon reiterated the need for long-term solutions.

“It is the responsibility of our government to ensure industrial peace,” he said.

The CFIB called on the government on Tuesday to classify ports as essential so that they are not exposed to such disruptions in the future.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.