Leaders of labour federations across Canada are warning the federal government not to introduce any back-to-work legislation to force striking British Columbia port workers to return to their jobs, saying that any such attempt will be met with “strong resistance.”
Canadian Labour Congress President Bea Bruske and her provincial and territorial counterparts sent a jointly signed
letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on July 11 telling his government that any kind of legislative action against the striking B.C. port workers “would be a serious misstep,” as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.
Over 7,400 B.C. port workers who are members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU) have been
on strike since July 1 as their union attempts to negotiate a new labour agreement with the BC Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA), which represents nearly 50 of B.C.’s private-sector waterfront employers.
“Back-to-work legislation would be a misstep that would only aggravate the situation,” Ms. Bruske wrote in the
letter. “If the right to strike is weakened by the federal government legislating the 7,000 ILWU workers back to work, it will have a significant impact on every Canadian who expects to have their rights protected by their government.”
The labour congress president added that the prospect of Ottawa legislating workers back to their jobs “tramples on every Canadian’s Charter right to freedom of association and the right to bargain the terms and conditions of employment.”
“Collective bargaining and the right to strike are fundamental rights. They are central to our democracy,” she
wrote. “We urge your government to allow the parties to finish bargaining the outstanding issues in good faith.”
Federal Intervention
Ms. Bruske sent the letter to Ottawa on the same day that the BCMEA and the ILWU Canada were in contact with federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan, who in turn had sent the organizations a letter
saying that he had given a senior federal mediator 24 hours to send him recommended terms to end the B.C. port strike.
Mr. O’Regan
said in a statement on July 11 that the BCMEA and ILWU Canada are not far enough in their bargaining positions to “justify a continued work stoppage.”
He added that once he has received the recommended terms from the federal mediator, he will forward them to both the BCMEA and ILWU Canada and give them another 24 hours to decide whether to agree to the proposed deal.
Mr. O’Regan’s statement came on the same day that the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) said the B.C. port strike has negatively affected over half of its members.
“With no resolution in sight, three quarters of businesses (75%) are calling on the federal government to make ending the strike quickly a top priority,” the CFIB wrote in a press
release.
“Only 16% of businesses said the strike would have no impact on them, with another 31% unsure how it would affect them.”
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
