OTTAWA (Staff) – The government is proposing new Canada Labor Code amendments that would make it illegal for third-party work stoppages to disrupt the flow of export grain through ports.
Grain companies and their unions would retain the right to strike or lock out, labor minister Alfonso Gagliano told a Nov. 4 news conference.
But other unions and employers at the ports would not be able to indirectly bring grain movement to a halt.
Grain services maintained
“In the event of a work stoppage involving other parties in port-related activities, including longshoremen, services affecting grain shipment must be maintained,” the minister told reporters. “… We are confident that this measure will address the vast majority of disruptions to grain exports at Canadian ports.”
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If not, a 1999 review of the new Labor Code provisions will result in “stronger measures.”
The proposed legislative changes will be the subject of Parliament Hill committee hearings within weeks.
The Liberals are responding to bitter grain sector complaints that they can be “sideswiped” by work stoppages which have nothing to do with their industry.
But Reform party labor critic Dale Johnston immediately said the government has not gone far enough.
In an interview from Ponoka, Alta., Johnston said the right to strike or lock out should be outlawed in the grain industry. It would be replaced by a “final offer arbitration” system.
Longshoremen support
“There still is the possibility of having to legislate someone back to work,” he said. “That is unnecessary.”
From labor, Canadian Labor Congress vice-president Nancy Riche said British Columbia longshoremen will support the proposal.
“They have never wanted to disrupt grain,” she said. “It is the employers who want grain disrupted so the government will intervene.”
The government also is proposing that while federally regulated companies can use replacement workers during a strike, it will be an unfair labor practice to “undermine a union’s representative capacity.”
