Federal government moves to end port work stoppages, orders binding arbitration

By Rosa Saba, The Canadian Press on November 12, 2024.

Steve MacKinnon, Minister of Labour and Seniors rises during Question Period in Ottawa, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA – Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon is intervening to end the work stoppages at ports in both British Columbia and Montreal.

The minister said Tuesday the negotiations have reached an impasse and he is directing the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order the resumption of all operations at the ports and move the talks to binding arbitration.

He said the work stoppages at the ports of British Columbia and the Port of Montreal are significantly impacting supply chains, thousands of jobs, and Canada’s reputation as a reliable trading partner.

“Negotiated agreements are the best way forward, but we not must allow other Canadians to suffer when certain parties do not fulfil their responsibility to reach an agreement,” MacKinnon said in a statement announcing the decision.

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

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

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

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

MacKinnon said he hopes operations at the ports can be restored in a matter of days.

The minister’s move to end the stoppages comes after the government stepped in to end halted operations at Canada’s two main railways in August using the same mechanism.

That decision is being challenged as unconstitutional, noted Alison Braley-Rattai, an associate professor of labour at Brock University, in an email.

She said this mechanism allows the government to evade the process of passing back-to-work legislation, meaning they don’t have to rely on the support of other parties.

“What we are seeing now, at least in the federal sector, appears very cynical,” she said, with employers precipitating a work stoppage so they can ask the government to impose arbitration.

There are consequences to the government intervening in labour disputes, Braley-Rattai added – if employers believe they can use lockouts to get binding arbitration, they might be incentivized to drag out negotiations “to the point where a lockout appears like the obvious next step.”

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

“Governments, then, should exercise restraint with regard to intervention.”

At a press conference Tuesday morning, MacKinnon said he doesn’t take lightly the decision to intervene in the collective bargaining process, but the negotiations were all at an impasse without an immediate way forward. That made the duration of the stoppage unclear and created real economic risk, he said.

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

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business said in a press release it’s relieved the government stepped in to protect Canada’s supply chains, but called for the government to designate ports as essential so they aren’t subject to such stoppages in the future.

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

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