A union representing dockworkers at Canada’s second-biggest port mentioned on Saturday it’s going to problem the Canadian authorities’s new strike-ending regulation in court docket because it violates elementary rights protected by the constitution.
Late on Friday, the Canadian authorities handed back-to-work laws to halt a strike that started on the Port of Montreal this week by employees over modifications to their work schedules.
The Canadian Union of Public Workers (CUPE) Quebec’s 1,125 longshore employees on the port have known as the brand new work schedules by the Maritime Employers Affiliation unfair and have demanded that they be withdrawn. They started their second strike in lower than a yr on Monday.
CUPE mentioned it’s a darkish day for employees’ rights in Canada.
“Prime Minister Trudeau has simply despatched a robust and clear message to all employers throughout the nation: no want to barter in good religion together with your employees, as a result of if the going will get powerful, we’ll be there to assist you,” Mark Hancock, president of CUPE Nationwide, mentioned.
Labor Minister Filomena Tassi mentioned in an announcement on Friday that the invoice had obtained royal assent, ending the strike, including that every one port operations needed to resume when the regulation got here into impact on Saturday.
The federal government will work with the events to pick a mediator within the coming days to assist attain a deal, Tassi mentioned, including {that a} mediator-arbitrator could be chosen within the coming days.
The unionized employees have been in contract negotiations since 2018.
Enterprise leaders had urged the federal government to intervene, elevating considerations over the strike disrupting provide chains, because the nation struggles to recuperate from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce estimated the labor stoppage would price between C$10 million and C$25 million per day.
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