Canada orders striking dock workers back to ports

Nov. 13 (UPI) -- Canada ordered striking dock workers back to the ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Montreal on Tuesday to clear out more than a week of container congestion bound for the United States and Canada.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government demanded the Canada Industrial Relations Board order its parties back to work under the Canada Labor Code.

Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon announced the order that calls for binding and final arbitration between the labor unions and ports ownership after negotiations on both sides reached a "total impasse."

"These work stoppages are impacting our supply chain, hundreds of thousands of Canadian jobs, our economy and our reputation," MacKinnon told reporters Tuesday.

"Canadians have limited tolerance right now for economic self-harm," MacKinnon added. "If these work stoppages go on, the impacts will only worsen, and our well-earned reputation for reliability will be put at risk because of these impasses, more than $1.3 billion value of goods is affected every day."

The Canadian ports on both coasts have been shut down since Nov. 4, after unions went on strike and port management locked them out.

Despite Tuesday's work order, it could take weeks to clear out all of the containers.

"The disruption these disputes caused to retail supply chains were severe, and all at our busiest time of the year," the Retail Council of Canada said in a statement to CNBC.

"The ripple effects will continue to be felt. It will take weeks for our sector to recover but Canadians can rest assured that they will continue to get all of their essential retail goods in the days ahead," the council added.

About $572 million in container trade is shipped into the United States from Canada every day, according to the U.S. Census. Approximately 20% of U.S. goods come through Vancouver and Prince Rupert.

The national president of Teamsters Canada, François Laporte, blasted the government's order on Tuesday, calling it "baseless narrative."

"This government needs to practice what it preaches when it comes to workers' rights," said Laporte. "Unions will fight this to the end."

"Canada is a strong country, and the idea that we are supposedly one strike or lockout away from economic collapse is a baseless narrative," he added.

"We are already challenging the government in the courts to put an end to these repeated violations of our Charter rights. Today's developments only add weight to our case."