In a statement at about 9:30 CT Tuesday evening, Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan said he had asked the senior federal mediator in the dispute to supply him with terms of a recommended settlement within 24 hours.

O’Regan said he will then forward those terms to both the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU Canada) and the B.C. Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA). The two parties then have 24 hours to decide “whether or not to recommend ratification of the terms to their principals.”

The Canada Labour Code allows for a federally appointed mediator — at the request of the parties, or of the labour minister — to make recommendations for settlement of a dispute or an outstanding difference between parties in labour talks.

In this specific case, O’Regan said Tuesday, “as a result of the hard work by the parties at the bargaining table, there is a good deal within reach — one that would work for both the employer and the union.”

In the wake of 11 days’ striking at West Coast ports, O’Regan said he’s decided “the difference between the employer’s and the union’s positions is not sufficient to justify a continued work stoppage.”

The scale of the disruption caused so far by the strike “shows how important the relationship between the BCMEA and the ILWU is to our national interest,” he added. “We cannot allow this work stoppage to persist and risk further damage to the relationship between these parties.”

Despite O’Regan’s plan, Manitoba farm organization Keystone Agricultural Producers and the Manitoba Pork Council, in a joint statement Wednesday, called instead for an immediate end to the supply chain disruptions caused by the strike.

“We appreciate Minister O’Regan’s directive to the federal mediator, but in contrast to the back-to-work legislation that was brought forward to address the Port of Montreal strike in 2021, the federal government has refused to take direct action that would end the strike and the associated impacts on our supply chain,” KAP general manager Brenna Mahoney said in a release.

About 7,400 B.C. longshore workers represented by ILWU Canada went on strike July 1 after serving the BCMEA with the required 72 hours’ notice. Their previous collective agreement expired March 31 and talks had been underway since that time between the parties with federal mediators.

While the federal Labour Code requires that striking longshore workers continue to handle loading of bulk grain vessels, the current West Coast strike has the potential to stall Canada’s exports of containerized pulse crops, fresh pork, fertilizer and other goods.

In a statement earlier Tuesday the BCMEA, whose members include 49 B.C. waterfront employers and terminal operators, estimated the value of disrupted cargo since July 1 at about $8.6 billion.

The association cited estimates from Royal Bank that 63,000 shipping containers were already impacted, with 13 vessels to arrive in coming days and 37 due by month-end — by which time the value of backlogged goods would touch $11.7 billion, which in turn would require “over three weeks of clearance, barring any new arrivals.”

The association also noted provincial leaders including Ontario’s Doug Ford, Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe and Alberta’s Danielle Smith have called for an end to the longshore workers’ job action.

Neither O’Regan nor Transport Minister Omar Alghabra have mentioned back-to-work legislation as an option, which currently would involve recalling Parliament off its summer break.

Shortly before the strike, the ILWU said outstanding issues included protection for its members against job losses caused by contracting-out and port automation, and against “record-high inflation and skyrocketing cost of living.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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“So you have cargo held in Vancouver or on its way to Vancouver, or people not shipping to Vancouver because they don’t want to pay demurrage and detention,” he said.

Demurrage is the charges paid for the use of a container within a terminal, while detention is the fee paid for the container’s use outside of the terminal.

Talks between the B.C. Maritime Employers Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada broke down July 3 following a marathon bargaining session during the Canada Day long weekend.

With the previous five-year agreement having expired March 31, ILWU Canada said it’s seeking a two-year deal with wage increases of 11 per cent in the first year and six per cent in the second. Also, the union accused port employers of raking in record profits, while the BCMEA charged the union’s demands are unreasonable.

Talks resumed several days later with the assistance of federal mediators, but negotiations stalled a second time on Tuesday.

While pulse exports by container remained at a standstill, bulk grain carriers are still being loaded as required under the Canada Labour Code.

“The container business is being stopped right now and it is a problem, and the [federal] government needs to intervene,” Mosnaim said.

So far, the federal Liberal government has resisted demands to recall Parliament in order to quickly push back-to-work legislation through the House of Commons and Senate. The premiers of Alberta and Saskatchewan, along with some business and agriculture groups, have demanded a stronger response from Ottawa.

Mosnaim noted something of a silver lining for pulses with the port workers’ strike: summer, between the end of the old crop and the coming new crop, is a slow time for exports.

The labour dispute’s impact on Canada’s pulse exports would be far greater, he said, if it occurred in September when the new crop was being harvested.

— Glen Hallick reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.

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The agreement puts a formal lid on the latest round of contract disputes between Calgary-based CP and its 3,000-odd unionized employees represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC).

Those disputes peaked in a two-and-a-half-day work stoppage ending March 22, when the company and union agreed to go to binding arbitration to settle sticking points left unresolved in bargaining.

The new agreement, as laid out Monday by arbitrator William Kaplan, runs through to the end of 2023.

It provides wage increases of 3.5 per cent for each of 2022 and 2023, plus increases of three and 2.4 per cent to employees’ maximum disability and annual dental benefits respectively.

Kaplan’s binding decision was announced Monday after mediation on Friday and Saturday and a two-day hearing Sunday and Monday.

The arbitrator’s decision also calls for the TCRC to enter an agreement with CP on a pension improvement account (PIA) by the end of next month; the PIA would cover a six-year period ending Jan. 1, 2024 at the earliest.

The decision also updates the amount of time employees serving as union officials or reps can book for rest after taking leave to attend to union business.

CP CEO Keith Creel said Monday the company “welcomes the conclusion of arbitration and is pleased to have completed this agreement.”

TCRC brass, in a separate memo to its CP membership on Monday, said they would review Kaplan’s decisions and provide comments to local chairpersons and the membership “in the very near future.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 401, which represents about 140 workers at the Lethbridge plant, said Monday its members had voted 79 per cent to reject the offer.

The workers’ previous contract expired at the end of August 2019; the union and company had agreed during earlier talks to seek a five-year contract taking it through to Aug. 31, 2024.

Votes were held in Lethbridge Dec. 16 and online Dec. 17, after the company put forward “what they describe as their last best and final offer,” UFCW said Dec. 10.

UFCW spokesperson Chris O’Halloran, in the union’s Dec. 10 notice, said there’s “never as much money in one of these offers as we would like.”

The union said Monday it will now apply to go to mediation, emphasizing that process is meant to help parties “clarify their positions and reach a compromise.”

Mediation would continue for at least two days before the union can ask the provincially appointed mediator to “write out” — that is, provide non-binding recommendations in the event that talks don’t produce a deal.

Once a mediator writes out, UFCW said Dec. 10, a 14-day mandatory cooling-off period follows, during which time the union “will schedule and hold a strike vote.”

That said, the union added Monday it also “will be looking to return to the bargaining table to see if the company will improve their offer.”

Supplying customers in Canada and the U.S. as well as other export markets, Winnipeg-based Richardson’s Lethbridge plant has capacity to handle up to 700,000 tonnes of canola per year, following a $120 million expansion in 2017.

The Lethbridge plant includes a packaging facility at which canola oil is bottled and margarine and shortening are packaged. Its products are sold under the Canola Harvest and Wesson brands and to private-label and foodservice customers.

Richardson’s other oilseed facilities include its canola crush and refining plant at Yorkton, Sask. and its margarine plant at Oakville, Ont. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The Parti Quebecois’ ag critic, Matane-Matapedia MNA Pascal Berube, and its labour critic, Jonquiere MNA Sylvain Gaudreault, made the pitch Friday, after workers from Olymel’s plant at Vallee-Jonction voted Tuesday to reject an agreement in principle reached between their union and plant management.

Following the vote, in which workers voted 57 per cent against the deal, Provincial Labour Minister Jean Boulet on Wednesday announced the appointment of a special mediator, Jean Poirier, to seek an end to the 16-week strike.

Having a new mediator is not enough as it will only prolong the dispute, Berube said in a release.

Citing estimates last week from the provincial hog farmers’ group les Eleveurs de porcs du Quebec, he said almost 150,000 market-weight hogs are now crammed in hot barns in “undignified and unacceptable” conditions.

“It’s a question of hours before farmers, under pressure and out of resources, are obligated to start euthanizing their animals.”

Boulet must propose arbitration to both the Syndicat des travailleurs d’Olymel Vallee-Jonction (STOVJ) and the company, Gaudreault said, but the minister also must assure his own “exemplary impartiality” in the matter.

The labour dispute at Vallee-Jonction — where Olymel has capacity to slaughter 35,000 hogs per week — “has gone on long enough,” the PQ said, and Quebecers must be able to foresee an end to it in the “very short term.”

Les Eleveurs de porcs du Quebec last week called for Premier Francois Legault to personally intervene to end the dispute.

Over 1,000 STOVJ-represented employees at the plant have been on strike since April 28, citing concerns over wages and working conditions. Their previous contract, which ended a strike in 2015, expired this year. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Workers at Olymel’s plant at Vallee-Jonction, about 60 km southeast of Quebec City, met Tuesday evening to vote on an agreement in principle reached last Friday between the company and the Syndicat des travailleurs d’Olymel Vallee-Jonction (STOVJ), which represents about 1,050 plant employees.

Voting via secret ballot at an outdoor meeting at Vallee-Jonction’s Autodrome Chaudiere racetrack, the employees voted 57 per cent against the deal, union brass said in a release Tuesday.

“We will therefore notify the employer and we will return to the negotiation table” with provincially-appointed conciliators, STOVJ president Martin Maurice said.

Provincial Labour Minister Jean Boulet responded to Tuesday’s vote with the appointment Wednesday of Jean Poirier as a new “special mediator” to sort out the Vallee-Jonction strike as “quickly as possible.”

In a tweet, Boulet said Poirier, well known for mediating in previous labour disputes in the province, has a “vast” knowledge of the industry and the qualifications to resolve the impasse between the parties.

Legault, in a separate tweet Wednesday, said the union and company are both close to resolving the dispute and he “appeal(ed) to their sense of responsibility” to do so.

‘Credibility at stake’

With the Vallee-Jonction plant’s weekly kill capacity of 35,000 hogs offline since April 28 due to the strike, les Eleveurs de porcs du Quebec, the province’s hog producer group, now estimates about 150,000 market-weight hogs are backed up on farms awaiting slaughter as of Wednesday.

The group said previously it has been working with Olymel to try and manage the backlog, by shipping animals to slaughter outside Quebec and/or selling off piglets to free up barn space.

Now, however, after an “unheard of” 23 conciliation sessions between the union and Olymel, Eleveurs de porcs said the province has a responsibility not only to hog farmers and their families but to taxpayers, given the provincial government’s recent investment of about $150 million in the company.

The workers’ rejection of Friday’s deal “is a slap in the face for us producers, who are victims of this conflict,” Eleveurs de porcs president David Duval said in a separate release Wednesday.

“The financial losses are enormous, the psychological distress of producers is omnipresent, pigs are piling up on farms; we fear for the well-being of our animals, not to mention the spectre of food waste that looms on the horizon.”

Olymel, its parent Sollio Co-operative, the STOVJ, its parent union CSN and the provincial government all have roles to play in resolving the dispute, Duval said. “Their credibility is at stake and, by extension, the image of all of Quebec’s pork production.”

On hog farmers and their families, the pressure is now “enormous,” Marcel Groleau, president of Quebec’s general farm organization the Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA), said in Wednesday’s release.

“Financial losses accumulate, their animals suffer; they are short of solutions and at the end of their resources. We feel the distress is growing among some even more today, when many believed the conflict was settled.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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About 500 unionized workers at Exceldor Co-operative’s plant at Saint-Anselme, about 30 km southeast of Quebec City, have been on strike since May 23. The previous contract between Exceldor United Food and Commercial Workers (TUAC) Local 1991-P expired last July 31.

Exceldor, in a release Saturday, hailed the “positive outcome” of the workers’ vote on a proposal tabled by provincial mediator Helene Poulin.

The company said it would co-operate fully with the union to ensure a “harmonious” return to work as soon as possible, but added it would take several days to gradually resume production at full capacity.

The co-operative noted it had already agreed Thursday to the proposal’s terms so as to prevent waste of food and to ensure markets continue to be supplied — “even though the terms of the new collective agreement will effectively redefine the poultry market in Quebec.”

Exceldor didn’t elaborate in Saturday’s release, but Le Bulletin des agriculteurs on Saturday quoted union officials as saying workers had voted 66 per cent in favour of a six-year agreement that boosts the hourly wage at the plant to $23.85, up from $20.71.

Le Bulletin also quoted union officials as saying wages will increase by almost 20 per cent over the length of the contract, with further adjustments for inflation if need be.

Provincial Labour Minister Jean Boulet said on Twitter Saturday that his staff would work with the parties in resuming operations at the plant and it’s now time to “look to the future.”

Quebec Premier Francois Legault had said on June 16 on Facebook that “thousands” of chickens were being euthanized due to the Saint-Anselme strike, estimating about 13 per cent of the province’s poultry production was essentially going in the trash each week the strike continued.

Les Eleveurs de volailles du Quebec, the province’s poultry producer association, said Saturday on Facebook its membership was glad to learn of an end to the strike and that work at Saint-Anselme would soon resume.

The work stoppage at Saint-Anselme puts emphasis on maintaining good working conditions and dialogue between all actors in the poultry sector in the future, to assure the responsiveness of all links in the supply chain, the producer association said. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Bill C-29, introduced Tuesday in the House of Commons, cleared third reading in the Commons Wednesday and received three readings in the Senate and royal assent Friday.

The port’s longshore workers, represented by the Syndicat des debardeurs du port de Montreal (CUPE Local 375), undertook a part-time strike starting April 13, and expanded that to a full-time stoppage effective April 26.

The workers’ previous collective agreement expired at the end of December 2018; the union has described the main sticking point in talks as worker scheduling as it relates to “work/life balance.”

A strike doesn’t affect bulk grain traffic, which is protected under the federal Labour Code, it does affect export movement of containerized crops, such as pulses and special crops, as well as imports of goods such as fertilizer.

Federal Labour Minister Filomena Tassi, in introducing C-29 on Tuesday, billed it as the government’s “least desired course of action.”

The bill, she said at the time, would also set up a “neutral mediation-arbitration process to resolve the issues in dispute between the parties and conclude a new collective agreement,” she said, emphasizing the government “is not taking sides.”

Tassi had also said C-29 does not prevent the union and Maritime Employers Association (MEA), which represents port terminal companies, from “concluding an agreement on their own terms at any point in this process.”

Pulse Canada, which among other crops sector groups had pressed Ottawa to ward off a work stoppage, said Friday the pulse industry “welcomes the end of the strike” at the port and thanked MPs and senators who voted for C-29’s passage.

However, Pulse Canada president Greg Cherewyk said the group “encourages both parties to reach a permanent agreement as quickly as possible in order to provide certainty to containerized shipping in Canada.”

Cherewyk described the port work stoppage as “the latest example of the vulnerability of Canada’s supply chains” and said Pulse Canada seeks “a national conversation on supply chain resiliency” including shippers, government and other stakeholders.

CUPE on Friday ripped C-29 as “unconstitutional, as it infringes fundamental rights protected by the Charter” and said it would challenge the bill in court.

In a release, the union said the MEA “walked away from the bargaining table April 27, once it was clear the Trudeau government would give them their wish of legislating their employees back to work.”

CUPE national president Mark Hancock said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “just sent a loud and clear message to every employer in the country: don’t bother bargaining in good faith with your workers, because if things get tough, we’ll be there to bail you out.”

CUPE national secretary-treasurer Charles Fleury, in the same release, credited the federal New Democrats and party leader Jagmeet Singh “for successfully amending this bill to take away some of its worst elements.”

The NDP, in a separate release Thursday, said Trudeau and Tassi “are going to dispose of an inconvenient labour dispute and undermine fundamental Canadian labour rights along the way.” –– Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The Syndicat des debardeurs du port de Montreal (SCFP/CUPE Local 375) said Saturday they had filed 72 hours’ strike notice, to take effect Tuesday — a move they said is in response to a lockout notice served Friday, also effective Tuesday, from their employers’ association.

The lockout notice came “after a good week of negotiations where the work was going well,” CUPE representative Michel Murray said Saturday in a release.

The union and the Association des employeurs maritimes (AEM), which represents port employers, said in separate statements Monday on Facebook they have been called to separate meetings Tuesday by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, and would attend.

Reuters on Monday quoted a representative for federal Labour Minister Filomena Tassi as saying while the government believes a negotiated agreement is the best option for all parties, “we are actively examining all options as the situation evolves.”

The union said Saturday its partial strike means that, starting Tuesday, its member workers won’t take any overtime work beyond their regular eight-hour shifts, and will be on strike Saturdays and Sundays indefinitely.

The longshore workers would continue regular day, evening and night shifts from Monday to Friday, the union said.

Thus, Murray said, “we put pressure on the employer without much disturbing customers who are waiting for their merchandise.”

A strike wouldn’t affect bulk grain traffic at Montreal, which runs through Viterra’s 262,000-tonne capacity grain terminal. The federal Labour Code calls for port workers during a strike or lockout to “continue to provide the services they normally provide” for loading, tie-up, let-go and movement of grain vessels in and out of port.

However, a strike would affect traffic through Montreal’s container terminals — and those include the CanEst Transit terminal, devoted to storage, cleaning, sifting, packing and loading of agricultural products.

The CanEst terminal, whose ownership group includes Quebec ag co-operative Sollio and Regina pulse and durum processor AGT, loads about 200 containers per day.

“Demand for goods is at an all-time high, and yet port traffic is dropping,” pulse industry group Pulse Canada said on Twitter Monday. “The recent uncertainty is just the tipping point for further damage to (Canadian agriculture).”

Pulse Canada and several crops sector groups — including the Canadian Special Crops Association, Soy Canada, Cereals Canada, the Prairie Oat Growers Association, Western Grain Elevator Association and others — have previously stated their case for federal intervention.

The Port of Montreal, when fully open, sees over $880 million in containerized ag economic activity per year, they said.

The port’s unionized longshore workers’ previous collective agreement expired at the end of December 2018; the union has described the main sticking point in talks as worker scheduling as it relates to “work/life balance.”

The port has since seen intermittent work stoppages plus a 10-day strike last August, halted by a mediated truce that expired March 20.

The parties said in August they had a “mutual agreement” in which they’d be able to turn to arbitration at the end of the truce if “certain points remain in dispute.”

Ag groups aren’t alone in calling for federal intervention. Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME) said Monday they want Ottawa to “ensure service continuity” at the port.

“Just the threat of a work stoppage at the port caused an 11 per cent decrease in activity this past month alone,” the association said in a release.

“Some manufacturers have had to redirect their containers to the Port of Halifax, incurring millions in additional costs every week. Industry will have to absorb these costs and delays, and it will ultimately hurt consumers,” CME CEO Dennis Darby said. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Federal Labour Minister Filomena Tassi announced Friday that the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 375, Syndicat des debardeurs and the port’s Maritime Employers Association (MEA) have “concluded a truce agreement.”

The union, which represents about 1,150 longshoremen and longshorewomen loading and unloading ships at the port, on Aug. 10 launched what it described at the time as an “indefinite” strike following a series of intermittent work stoppages.

Following calls to the parties earlier this week, Tassi said, she directed Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services to put forward a proposed truce agreement for their consideration, in which both sides “pause and pursue the negotiation process while operations resume” at the port.

The two parties “will work under (the truce’s) parameters as they negotiate a new contract,” she said Friday in a statement, adding she and Transport Minister Marc Garneau “strongly encourage both parties to fully use this opportunity to reach an agreement.”

CUPE 375, in a separate release Friday, said the two sides are “confident that they will be able to reach a negotiated agreement in principle by the end of the truce on March 20, 2021.”

The parties have also reached a “mutual agreement” in which they’ll be able to turn to arbitration at the end of the truce if “certain points remain in dispute.”

The unionized workers’ previous collective agreement expired at the end of December 2018; the union has described the main sticking point in talks as worker scheduling, as it relates to “work/life balance.”

CUPE 375 said Friday that a meeting to set up a “return-to-work protocol” is scheduled for Saturday and the port will be operational again starting at 7 a.m. ET Sunday.

The MEA, in a separate statement Friday, said the truce is to take effect immediately. “Starting today, no pressure tactics will be exercised, while both parties will concentrate on negotiations in order to come to an agreement,” the association said.

Montreal’s port authority warned at the strike’s onset that an open-ended work stoppage would “create long delays in handling goods for Canadian companies, especially exporters” and “oblige many export companies to lease warehouses or choose a different supply chain, if they are unable to move their goods internationally out of the Port of Montreal.”

The strike, it said, could also lead international shipping firms “to re-route certain vessels, sometimes to competing U.S. ports, resulting in higher costs for businesses and, ultimately, consumers.”

The strike didn’t affect bulk grain traffic through the port, which runs through Viterra’s 262,000-tonne capacity grain terminal. The federal Labour Code calls for port workers during a strike or lockout to “continue to provide the services they normally provide” for loading, tie-up, let-go and movement of grain vessels in and out of port.

However, the strike did affect traffic through Montreal’s container terminals — including the CanEst Transit terminal, devoted to storage, cleaning, sifting, packing and loading of agricultural products.

The CanEst terminal, whose ownership group includes Quebec ag co-operative Sollio and Regina pulse and durum processor AGT, loads about 200 containers per day. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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