The federal government is urging both sides in the British Columbia port dispute to return to the table after mediated talks broke off on Saturday, the first of three scheduled days.
A statement issued by the office of federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon says both the port employers and the union representing more than 700 longshore supervisors “must understand the urgency of the situation.”
The statement urges both sides to “do the work necessary to reach an agreement,” adding that “Canadians are counting on them.”
The comments come after the latest round of mediated talks in Vancouver started and ended on Saturday without a deal, despite up to three days of mediation being on the table, with no further negotiations scheduled to end a lockout that started last Monday.
Container terminals across B.C. were locked by employers in what they call a defensive action after workers started strike activity, while the union — International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 — calls the lockout an overreaction to an overtime ban and a refusal to implement automation technology.
The employers, represented by the B.C. Maritime Employers Association, say the talks were concluded by federal mediators on Saturday after they met with both sides separately and saw no progress, while the union says the employers cut off talks in less than an hour — something the employers deny.
The employers said the mediator concluded the discussions after “there was no progress made” in talks conducted separately with the association and the union.
“The BCMEA went into the meeting with open minds and seeking to achieve a negotiated settlement at the bargaining table,” a statement from the employers said.
“In a sincere effort to bring these drawn-out negotiations to a close, the BCMEA provided a competitive offer to ILWU Local 514 … the offer did not require any concessions from the union and, if accepted, would have ended this dispute.”
The employers said the offer includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term along with an average lump sum payment of $21,000 per qualified worker, but the union said it did not address staffing levels given the advent of port automation technology in terminals such as DP World’s Centerm in Vancouver.
After talks broke off, the union accused the employers of “showing flagrant disregard for the seriousness of their lockout.”
Local 514 president Frank Morena said in a statement on Saturday that the union is “calling on the actual individual employers who run the terminals to order their bargaining agent — the BCMEA — to get back to the table.”
“We believe the individual employers who actually run the terminals need to step up and order their bargaining agent to get back to the table and start negotiations and stop the confrontation,” Morena said.
Labour code vague, professor says
According to the Canada Labour Code, the labour minister or either party in a dispute can request a mediator to “make recommendations for settlement of the dispute or the difference.”
In addition, Section 107 of the Code gives the minister additional powers to take action that “seem likely to maintain or secure industrial peace and to promote conditions favourable to the settlement of industrial disputes,” and could direct the Canada Industrial Relations Board “to do such things as the Minister deems necessary.”
Hundreds of foremen in Vancouver and Port Rupert were locked out by their employer, the B.C. Maritime Employers’ Association, on Monday afternoon, with the employer calling it a “defensive action” after port workers served 72 hours strike notice. The union says the BCMEA is overreacting.
Liam McHugh-Russell, assistant professor at Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University, said Section 107 “is very vague about what it allows a minister to do.”
“All it says is that the minister can refer a problem and a solution to the Labour Board. They can ask the Labour Board to try and solve the problem,” he said.
“Maybe the minister will try to do that. It remains to be seen.”
The other option if mediated talks fail — beyond the parties reaching a solution on their own — would be a legislated return to work, which would be an exception to the normal way labour negotiations operate under the Labour Code.
Parliament is not scheduled to sit this week and will return on Nov. 18. The labour strife at B.C. ports is happening at the same time another dispute is disrupting Montreal, Canada’s second-largest port.