Liberal legislation would end port strike
MONTREAL WALKOUT
MONTREAL • Federal Labour Minister Filomena Tassi introduced back-towork legislation Tuesday to end the one-day-old walkout by Port of Montreal dock workers, saying the economic and health toll is too high to let the dispute fester.
Bill C-29, “an act to provide for the resumption and continuation of operations at the Port of Montreal,” was tabled Tuesday morning in Ottawa. The law allows for arbitration to be imposed in matters that cannot be resolved through mediation.
Shipments of food, fertilizer, seeds, drugs and medical equipment such as dialysis machines risk being disrupted by the strike, Tassi said Tuesday afternoon during a House of Commons debate. Some Canadians have reached out to say the strike is “literally a matter of life and death” for them, she stressed.
“We know there are ships, currently with Covid-related products, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, that now cannot get through,” Tassi said. “The impacts are vast and deep.”
While the government is committed to the collective bargaining process, “there is too much at stake. We must act before irreparable damage is done to the economies of Montreal, the province of Quebec and the rest of Canada, as well as the health and safety of Canadians.”
More than 1,100 longshoremen at Canada’s second-busiest port began an unlimited strike Monday morning, their second since August. Government ministers and business leaders in Quebec and Ontario immediately called on Ottawa to order the strikers back to work so as not to imperil the economic recovery.
The port workers have been without a labour agreement since December 2018. More than 21/2 years after discussions began, and more than 100 bargaining sessions later, “negotiations remain stalled, and no end is in sight,” Tassi said.
Bill C-29 imposes the return to work at 12:01 a.m. the day after the legislation receives royal assent. Any party that violates a provision of the act would face a fine of up to $100,000 per day of violation.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the longshoremen, called the move “an affront to all workers in the country.”
Ottawa “is playing the employer’s game by legislating a return to work and violating the rights of workers to bargain collectively and to strike,” Marc Ranger, CUPE’S Quebec director, said in a statement. “It’s shameful for a government that calls itself the defender of the middle class.”
In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dated Tuesday, CUPE national president Mark Hancock called on the government to refrain from tabling Bill C-29. He also repeated a union pledge to make members return to work if the Maritime Employers Association agrees to withdraw two key economic measures against workers, including an end to job security guarantees.
The MEA issued a brief statement to say it took note of the bill tabled in Ottawa.
“The priority remains to reach a negotiated agreement,” the association said.
Trudeau’s Liberal Party government needs support from at least one opposition party to get the legislation adopted, because it doesn’t control a majority of seats in the House of Commons. Conservative Party Leader Erin O’toole told Quebec’s LCN news channel Monday his party plans to vote in favour of the legislation because of the port’s key economic role.
Business groups have warned that a lengthy work stoppage could deal a serious blow to the Quebec economy, which is trying to recover from pandemic-inflicted damage. Ninety per cent of all goods consumed in Eastern Canada typically pass through the Port of Montreal, according to the MEA.
Ottawa’s involvement was “essential to ensure the efficiency of the supply chain and the survival of our businesses,” Marc Cadieux, head of the Quebec Trucking Association, said in a statement.
“After 30 months of uncertainties and fruitless discussions, the government had no choice but to use the levers at its disposal to protect our economy.”
Others, like Michel Leblanc at the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal, underlined the need for the parties to quickly find a long-term solution “to counter the climate of uncertainty that has been in place since the end of the collective agreement, and which has the potential to jeopardize the recovery.”
A disruption in port activities results in a loss of $10 million to $25 million per day for the economy, according to a recent study by the Montreal-based market-research firm Acronyme.
Montreal handles about $275 million worth of goods daily, including agri-food products, construction equipment and pharmaceuticals, port officials say.