The port workers of British Columbia and Montreal are facing a direct attack by the Liberal federal government. After suppressing the right to strike of rail workers this summer they are now doing exactly the same thing to the port workers.
This follows a coordinated offensive by the maritime employers. On both coasts, they locked out the workers this month, accusing them of disrupting the economy and begging for a federal intervention, which they are now granted with.
Communist Revolution was just about to publish the two following articles as the news of forced binding arbitration came down. We believe they retain all their validity.
Back in August, the ILWU 514 in BC voted 96 per cent in favour of an industry-wide strike. On Nov. 8, they called a support rally to their picket line which saw hundreds of workers, unionized and non-unionized, show up in solidarity. CUPE 375 in Montreal also got an overwhelming mandate to strike, showing their determination to put up a fight.
The Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) is now becoming the favourite tool of the Liberals to crush the workers. They don’t even need a vote, and take away the right to strike by a snap of the finger. It is time to put an end to this.
CUPE 375 and ILWU 514 need to launch a coordinated strike. Only by defying this anti-democratic measure can the workers beat back the bosses’ offensive. The whole labour movement needs to fully support the port workers and join them on the lines. Their fight is our fight!
B.C. port bosses manufacture crisis in bid to break union
Matt Arean Keller
The 700 longshore foremen organized in ILWU local 514 are fighting against the unilateral implementation of automation which would lead to the loss of good jobs. They have been locked out by the bosses since Nov. 5, in an offensive to break their union.
Turning reality on its head, the B.C. Maritime Employers’ Association (BCMEA) accused the workers of making the “regrettable decision to destabilize Canada’s supply chain.”
The media has bought this hook, line and sinker. A headline from Forbes puts it like this: “Canada’s West Coast Port Strike Causes Supply Chain Panic.” In their minds, this “panic” is somehow the result of a strike. But this is a lockout, not a strike.
The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade of course joined the chorus, demanding “immediate action by the federal government to intervene and for the ILWU 514 leadership to bargain in good faith.” But who’s really acting in bad faith here?
Just this year, negotiations have broken down three times and all three times were a result of the BCMEA walking away from the bargaining table. Just this weekend, when they were forced back to the bargaining table for a planned three days of arbitration, the BCMEA walked out of the room after the first 40 minutes.
These hysterics coming from the mouthpieces of the capitalist class are meant to mask what’s really going on. While framing this as a negotiations breakdown—a result of bad-faith bargaining on behalf of local 514—the BCMEA is in reality trying everything in their power to break the union.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business did us the favor of saying the quiet part out loud: “The federal government must immediately introduce binding arbitration or legislate workers back to work. Ports across the country must also be deemed essential, so they remain operational at all times…”
That is to say: these lockouts must end with the workers being deprived of their democratic right to strike.
As the crisis of Canadian capitalism deepens, we will undoubtedly see more class battles like these erupt in every sector of the economy. Already, in Montréal, the Maritime Employers Association are locking out their workers and the mouthpieces of capital are issuing the same demand for a government intervention they have made in B.C. This is a coordinated attack by port capitalists on both coasts to break some of the sturdiest unions in Canada.
Already, port workers are gearing up for a fight. Back in August, the local voted 96% in favour of an industry-wide strike. On Nov. 8, they called a support rally to their picket line which saw hundreds of workers, unionized and non-unionized, show up in solidarity.
In order to build a strong counter-offensive against the bosses’ attacks, we need this to be replicated at every port in B.C. along with mass pickets and solidarity rallies calling in support from the wider labour movement. ILWU 514 and CUPE 375 in Montreal must stand united against any attack on their right to strike. The Revolutionary Communist Party stands in solidarity with port workers from coast to coast.
Lockout in the Port of Montreal: The bosses’ offensive expands
Julien Arseneau
While the Port of Vancouver has been locked out since Nov. 5, workers at the Port of Montreal are now getting attacked in the very same way since Nov. 10. This represents a coordinated offensive of the maritime employers to break the unions.
For years, dockworkers at the Port of Montreal have been fighting to improve working hours and scheduling. They still have to be available 19 days out of 21 to work, which makes work-life balance very difficult. The same issues that led to the strikes of 2020 and 2021 (the latter broken by back-to-work legislation) have never been resolved.
It is in this context that we need to understand the partial dockworkers’ strike affecting the Termont company since October 31.
According to the union, this company uses “punitive schedules” that prevent achieving work-life balance. They find every pretext to victimize and harass workers. There have been 33 workers fired in the last year and 1,200 disciplinary measures against workers. Agents follow them around to punish them for the slightest infraction.
The Maritime Employers Association (MEA) is now pulling out the heavy artillery of the lockout.
Without the shadow of a negotiation, the MEA first tabled a “final” offer, the same one that had already been categorically refused. It contained no improvement on the issue of working hours.
In reality, the bosses are mocking the workers. They don’t even show up for bargaining meetings. They table offers that have already been rejected, and say they have “no choice” but to impose the lockout.
These bosses now have the gall to complain that companies in Quebec and Canada are being “held hostage”, and are now calling for federal intervention.
Just as the rail bosses did last August, the maritime employers are crippling the economy, putting a gun to the government’s head and seeking to force its “intervention” to subdue the workers.
However, the union leadership is still falling back on the hope of bringing these gangsters to the bargaining table, despite all this damning behavior. Their offensive must instead be met by mass mobilization of workers.
In Montreal and throughout all the ports of British Columbia, the unions should erect mass pickets and invite the rest of the labour movement to come out and actively support them.
In addition to this, ILWU 514 and CUPE 375 should pledge to stand together and jointly defy any attack on their right to strike and bargain—whether through back-to-work legislation or intervention by the supposedly “neutral” CIRB. Only a coordinated and united mass action of the workers can beat back the coordinated and united offensive of the bosses!
