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Trudeau ‘dismayed’ at B.C. port union’s ‘unacceptable’ decision to reject deal

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government is “dismayed” that an agreement to end the job action at British Columbia’s ports was rejected by the longshore union leadership.

Trudeau says the union caucus’ decision to reject a federal mediator’s tentative deal that was agreed to at the bargaining table is “unacceptable.”

The stability of work at B.C. ports, key West Coast gateways for imports and exports, has been up in the air since the leadership caucus of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada voted down the mediator’s terms on Tuesday, briefly sending workers back to picket lines.

That move was ruled illegal by the Canada Industrial Relations Board which led the union to issue a new a 72-hour strike notice on Wednesday only to rescind that order hours later.

Trudeau convened a meeting of the government’s incident response group, a move reserved for crisis situations, and says the government needs to make sure people have faith in the collective bargaining process

The strike originally started on Canada Day and ran for 13 days, shutting down or severely disrupting operations at the more than 30 B.C. port terminals and other sites where union members work, freezing billions of dollars worth of products in place.