Canada Orders Ports to Restart as Labor Disputes Choke Trade

Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon announced that he has invoked his authority under the Canada Labor Code and forced the matter to the Canada Industrial Relations Board, which can order the sides to go back to work and enter into an arbitration process to resolve the dispute.

“Negotiated agreements are the best way forward, but we must not allow other Canadians to suffer when certain parties do not fulfill their responsibility to reach an agreement,” MacKinnon said in a news release. “It is my duty and responsibility to act in the interests of businesses, workers, farmers, families and all Canadians.”

Hundreds of dock foremen at British Columbia ports have been locked out for a week. Montreal port employers did the same on Sunday, locking out 1,200 unionized employees after those workers rejected a contract offer that included pay increases of about 20% over six years.

MacKinnon also ordered the ports to resume operations. Some C$1.2 billion ($860 million) of goods handled everyday in those ports have been put to a halt, threatening to snarl supply chains.