Striking Montreal Dockworkers Facing Federal Back-to-Work Order

Canada’s House of Commons followed through on the earlier announcements that the federal government intended to intervene to stop the strike by Montreal’s dockworkers. Conservatives joined with the Liberal government early Thursday morning to pass by a vote of 255-61 a bill ordering the dockworkers to return to work immediately. The bill now comes up for a vote on Friday morning in the Canadian Senate, which could order the workers back on the job as of 12:01 a.m. Saturday morning.-- More... Canada’s Labor Minister Filomena Tassi had announced that unlike the August 2020 strike, the federal government was going to intervene. In the debate in the House of Commons, she said the current strike could cost the Canadian economy as much as C$100 per week and indirectly would impact thousands of Canadian jobs. The federal government said it felt compelled to act this time because the sides remained far apart and there seemed to be little hope for a quick settlement in the contract negotiations that have been off and on for nearly three years.