CUPE has strongly denounced an announcement by Steven Mackinnon, the Minister of Labour, who ordered binding arbitration to resolve the conflicts at the Ports of Montreal, Quebec and Vancouver.
“It’s a dark day for the rights of workers. The right to bargain collectively is a constitutional right and is not negotiable. The situation at the Port of Montreal is mind-boggling, as the employer locked out employees last Sunday night and immediately requested government intervention without actually bargaining. The citizens of this country should be quite concerned this morning. Collectively, we must wake up and denounce this action, which is a setback to the rights of the middle class,” said CUPE Quebec President Patrick Gloutney.
Last August, the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) stated that taking this measure, which results in binding arbitration, created a precedent when the minister applied it to the rail conflict.
The Port of Quebec conflict
The employer has been using replacement workers in place of the longshore workers at the Port of Quebec, who have been locked out for 26 months. The federal government finally passed legislation preventing the use of scabs during labour conflicts, but it will not take effect until June 2025.
“Anti-scab legislation should have been brought in immediately, because if it had, the Port of Quebec conflict would have been resolved quite some time ago. The employer would have been forced to negotiate. All solutions for both parties can be reached at the bargaining table!” said Gloutney.