Ottawa forces return to work at ports in Montreal and British Columbia

Photo: Graham Hughes The Canadian Press The Maritime Employers Association locked out the 1,200 dockworkers at the Port of Montreal on Sunday night. The workers had just rejected the “final” offer that had been presented to them.

Michel Saba – The Canadian Press in Ottawa

Published at 10:27 Updated at 10:41

• Canada

Workers at the ports of Montreal and British Columbia will have to return to work, federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon announced Tuesday, while ordering binding arbitration.

“There is a limit to the economic self-destruction that Canadians are prepared to accept,” MacKinnon said at a news briefing in Ottawa.

Successive lockouts have been declared by employers at container terminals in British Columbia, including those in Vancouver, as well as at the Port of Montreal, Canada's two largest ports.

The Maritime Employers Association locked out the 1,200 dockworkers at the Port of Montreal on Sunday night. The workers had just rejected the “final” offer that had been presented to them.

The dockworkers had been refusing to work overtime since October 10. Also, about 320 of them were on a partial strike, affecting only two terminals of the Termont company.

To (re)read

• What will be the economic effects of the lockout at the Port of Montreal?
• CN, CP end lockout after Ottawa intervenes
• Editorial | In the rail industry, economics versus the right to strike

The scenario is similar in British Columbia, where the lockout began last week after the employer side criticized ship and dock foremen for going on strike in response to a final offer from employers.

A precedent in the railways

This is the third labour dispute affecting supply chains in the country this year, following those affecting rail and air transportation.

Last August, Canada’s two major railways, CN and CPKC, locked out 9,300 Teamsters conductors and locomotive engineers after months of negotiations failed to produce new collective agreements.

MacKinnon then stepped in and ordered the Canada Industrial Relations Board to impose binding arbitration in an effort to avoid a complete breakdown of the country’s supply chain.

The quasi-judicial body immediately noted that Ottawa was setting a precedent, but that the direction amounted to an order that the minister was issuing using his “discretionary powers” ​​under the Canada Labour Code. The Board found that it had no room to refuse the directive in this case.

Union members and worker advocates criticized the decision, saying it undermined workers’ bargaining power and rights.

Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code gives the Minister of Labour additional powers to take measures that he or she “considers likely to promote good understanding in the world of work and to create conditions favourable to the settlement of disagreements or disputes that arise therein,” and could order the Canada Industrial Relations Board “to take such measures as it considers necessary.”

Parliament could also force a return to work through legislation, which would be an exception to the normal way labour relations are negotiated under the Labour Code. However, the House of Commons is not scheduled to resume until next week, when observers expect the Conservatives to continue to paralyze it with filibusters.

According to the Montreal Port Authority, nearly $400 million worth of goods pass through the Port of Montreal every day, generating an economic spinoff of $268 million.

The Port of Montreal is the main port in eastern Canada. Its main competitors are ports in the eastern United States.