Union says talks to resume as bitter B.C. port work stoppage drags on [Video]

The union representing more than 700 locked out British Columbia port workers says talks are set to resume with employers.

A representative for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 says they have been ordered back to the table with the BC Maritime Employers Association and federal mediators Saturday afternoon.

Sources told Global News federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon ordered the two sides back to the bargaining table under S. 105 of the Federal Labour Code, which also empowers a federal mediator to make recommendations on a possible settlement.

Earlier Thursday, MacKinnon criticized the lack of progress in disputes disrupting Canada’s two biggest ports, saying there’s a “concerning lack of urgency” in resolving the British Columbia and Montreal stoppages.

It came as the union said it had filed a complaint against the employers, accusing them of “bargaining in bad faith, making threats, intimidation, coercion and interference with the administration …