Canada orders binding arbitration to end port lockout
Al Jazeera
With the lockouts, $930m of goods are being affected daily, affecting supply chains and local economy, the government says.
Canada’s labour minister is intervening to end the lockouts of workers at the country’s two biggest ports.
Minister of Labour Steven Mackinnon said on Tuesday that the negotiations had reached an impasse and he was directing the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order the resumption of all operations at the ports of Vancouver and Montreal and move the talks to binding arbitration.
Port of Montreal’s workers were locked out on Sunday and workers in Vancouver on the Pacific Coast have been locked out since November 4.
“There is a limit to the economic self-destruction that Canadians are prepared to accept,” MacKinnon said. “In the face of economic self-destruction, there is an obligation to intervene. As minister of labour, that responsibility falls to me.”
MacKinnon said 1.3 billion Canadian dollars ($930m) of goods is affected every day. He said it was affecting supply chains, the economy and Canada’s reputation as a reliable trading partner.
