With the lockout, $ 930 million in goods are affected every day, which affects the chains and the domestic economy, the government said.
Canada’s labor minister is stepping in to end the lockout at two of the country’s largest ports.
Labor Minister Steven Mackinnon said Tuesday that negotiations had reached an impasse and he is ordering the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order the resumption of all operations at the ports of Vancouver and Montreal and to move negotiations to a binding settlement.
Workers at the Port of Montreal 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 economic self-destruction that Canadians are willing to accept,” MacKinnon said. “Instead of self-destruction of the economy, there is an obligation to intervene. As the minister of labor, that responsibility is on me.”
MacKinnon said 1.3 billion Canadian dollars ($930m) in goods are affected every day. He said it affects supply chains, the economy and Canada’s reputation as a reliable trading partner.
Business groups have been asking the government to intervene so that the flow of goods can resume.
MacKinnon says he hopes jobs can be restored within 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 the final contract. The workers wanted a 20 percent wage increase over four years.
The action comes after port workers in British Columbia were locked out amid a labor dispute involving more than 700 managers on the long coast, resulting in the paralyzing of container traffic at ports on the West Coast.
He was forced to intervene
It was the second time in as many months that the Liberal government had intervened to stop the conflict. In August, it ordered a suspension of work at two of the country’s largest railway companies.
The left-leaning government has previously said it favors resolving labor disputes through collective bargaining. MacKinnon said he was forced to intervene after union arbitrators reported that negotiations in Montreal and Vancouver were tense.
The left-wing opposition New Democrats, a pro-union party that supports the Liberal minority government, has accused Ottawa of giving in to employers.
“Back-to-work orders are depressing wages for all Canadians, so billionaires get richer and other Canadians fall behind,” leader Jagmeet Singh said in a statement but stopped short of withdrawing support from the Liberals.
The Teamsters union, which represents workers at two major railroad companies embroiled in a labor dispute in August, has filed court challenges against the labor board’s decisions to force them back to work.
Meanwhile, the Canadian Labor Congress said in a statement, “The government is sending a dangerous message: Employers can bypass reasonable negotiations, lock out their workers, and wait for political intervention to get a better deal,”
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