Alberta minister calls for back-to-work legislation to end B.C. port strike | 24CA News
Alberta’s transport minister needs the federal authorities to recall Parliament to contemplate back-to-work laws that will finish a strike at British Columbia ports.
Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors Devin Dreeshen stated he’s annoyed the strike has continued since Saturday, significantly as a result of Ottawa used laws in 2021 to finish a walkout by Port of Montreal dock staff after in the future.
“They used Parliament to resolve it. And that same amount of urgency is something that we’re hoping that the federal government has in this case as well,” he stated.
Dreeshen stated Tuesday that Alberta has requested federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan for every day updates on negotiations between the BC Maritime Employers Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada.
“It’s vitally important that the supply chain, this being a main critical component of it, remains open,” he stated.
More than 7,000 staff at 30 ports throughout British Columbia have been on strike since Saturday morning, main business organizations in addition to officers in each Alberta and Saskatchewan to name on Ottawa to step in.
Talks stalled Monday, with the employers’ affiliation issuing an announcement saying it didn’t suppose extra bargaining would produce a deal and the union saying the opposite facet had modified its place on a key situation.
The union has beforehand stated contracting out, port automation and the price of dwelling are key points within the dispute.
O’Regan stated Tuesday that federal mediators proceed to assist each side of their negotiations.
“We encourage both parties to immediately return to the bargaining table and remain there until a deal is reached,” he stated.
“Collective bargaining is hard work but it’s how the best, most resilient deals are made.”
In a separate assertion responding to requires back-to-work laws, O’Regan’s workplace reiterated that it’s “not looking past the bargaining table, because the best deals are made at the table.”
Dreeshen stated western ports, significantly the Port of Vancouver, are “incredibly important” to Alberta’s financial system. He stated 80 per cent of exports that journey by way of the Port of Vancouver come from the Prairies.
Saskatchewan Minister of Trade and Export Development Jeremy Harrison stated Tuesday that shippers in that province have warned the strike is already slowing down the movement of products, and the present work stoppage can have long-lasting results on the provision chain.
“It may take weeks or even months to fully recover from these disruptions. Strain on the supply chain leads to additional costs that end up being passed along to consumers, including those in Saskatchewan,” he stated.
“We encourage the Government of Canada to do everything within its power to facilitate a resolution in the best interests of all Canadians.”
Dreeshen stated Alberta has but to see shortages of perishable items on grocery cabinets however that might come “very soon.”
Groups representing Canadian companies additionally need the federal authorities to intervene, with one group calling for authorized modifications that will discourage future disruptions.
On Tuesday Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters stated designating ports and rail strains as important infrastructure and limiting when and the place labour and different disruptions can happen would offer producers the steadiness they want.
“A strike of this magnitude not only disrupts the Canadian economy but damages our global trading reputation, hurts already fragile supply chains, and puts jobs at risk,” the group stated in an announcement.
“Given that the federal government understands what is at stake, (Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters) urges them to intervene now to reassure manufacturers that they will not bear the brunt of a labour dispute that is beyond their control,” it stated.
The group, which says its members account for about 82 per cent of complete manufacturing manufacturing and 90 per cent of Canada’s exports, estimates that the motion of $500 million value of products is being disrupted day-after-day.
The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade is in the meantime asking Ottawa to “use every tool at its disposal” to make sure a deal is struck to renew exercise on the metropolis’s port, together with back-to-work laws, if crucial.
© 2023 The Canadian Press
