B.C. port workers union plans to challenge federal intervention in labour dispute

The union representing more than 700 locked-out port workers is not pleased with Ottawa’s decision to intervene in their ongoing labour dispute, which has disrupted the flow of shipping on the West Coast for the past eight days.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 514 says it will be planning on legally challenging both the Canada Industrial Relations Board’s order to end the job action and the Minister’s forced arbitration.

“The Union will launch a Charter challenge based on interference with the Constitutional Right to free collective bargaining and the right to strike as previously upheld in the Supreme Court of Canada,” ILWU said in a statement.

“Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon has unfairly given the BC Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) the one-sided federal intervention it wanted from locking out workers and closing BC ports.”

ILWU foremen were locked out by their employer last week after the BCMEA presented its ‘final offer’ in contract talks that have been ongoing since last year.

On Tuesday, the Labour Minister ordered the immediate restart of port operations and instructed the Canada Industrial Relations Board to move negotiations to binding arbitration, after weekend talks stalled without progress.

“Negotiated agreements are the best way forward, but we must not allow other Canadians to suffer when certain parties do not fulfil their responsibility to reach an agreement,” MacKinnon said in a statement announcing the decision.

The eight-day lockout has been costly for both the workers and the Canadian economy.

Experts estimate that the dispute has resulted in losses upwards of $6 billion.

Meanwhile, the Maritime Employers Association also locked out nearly 1,200 workers at the Port of Montreal on Sunday after employees rejected what employers called a final contract offer.

Dockworkers in B.C. and Quebec were ordered back to work Tuesday under the conditions of their previous agreement until a new collective agreement is reached.

The government has indicated that a new contract could take days to finalize.

-With files from The Canadian Press.