The three major longshoremen’s unions at the country’s major ports are promising to mobilize if Ottawa refuses to commit to avoiding resorting to binding arbitration in the event of a future labor dispute in the longshore sector.
Union leaders representing dockworkers from the ports of Montreal, Vancouver and Halifax met at a press conference in the Quebec metropolis on Thursday morning.
They denounced the Trudeau government’s decision to invoke section 107 of the Labour Code to end the lockout declared by the Canadian National Railway Company (CN) and Canadian Pacific Railway of Kansas City (CPKC) last week.
Concerned that this case would set a dangerous precedent for their industry, the longshoremen’s unions decided to contact federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon. They sent a letter to the Liberal MP asking him to answer the following question: “As Minister of Labour, do you intend to invoke section 107 to unilaterally suspend workers’ constitutional rights and order binding arbitration in the event of a strike or lockout in the longshore sector?”
“In the event of a positive response or no response from the Minister of Labour, the Canadian dockworkers’ unions will certainly, as a first step, mobilize. We will not remain inactive,” Michel Murray, union advisor at the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), told the media.
The unions will then question the New Democratic Party on its intentions regarding its support and confidence agreement with the Trudeau government, Mr. Murray indicated.