The union representing longshore workers at Canada’s West Coast ports said its members would return to the picket line Tuesday afternoon after union leaders decided to reject a proposed agreement.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU Canada), which represents about 7,400 longshore workers at various Vancouver and Prince Rupert port facilities, said Tuesday afternoon its longshore caucus had voted to reject terms of settlement proposed last week by federal mediator Peter Simpson’s team.
Instead, ILWU Canada said, its membership “will be back on the picket line for a fair and negotiated collective agreement” as of 4:30 p.m. PT.
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Service for bulk grain vessels at West Coast ports is exempt from the work stoppage under Canada’s Labour Code.
Several farmer and ag industry groups had been publicly calling for federal action to end the strike, however, as containerized pulse crops, perishables such as meat and produce, fertilizer and other goods face potential delays.
The union caucus “does not believe the recommendations had the ability to protect our jobs now or into the future,” the union said Tuesday.
Work was to resume at B.C. ports last Thursday evening after the port management group, the B.C. Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA), said a tentative agreement had been reached and the longshore workers’ 13-day strike would end.
Simpson and his team had been directed by federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan to draft terms for an agreement to take to the union and management for their review — an option that was open to O’Regan under the Canada Labour Code.
However, ILWU Canada had not said last Thursday whether it would put the mediator’s proposed deal to a ratification vote.
Rather, it said Tuesday, with the “record profits” BCMEA member firms have collected in recent years, “the employers have not addressed the cost-of-living issues that our workers have faced over the last couple of years as all workers have.”
Also, the mediator’s proposal called for a collective agreement with a four-year term, which ILWU Canada said “with today’s uncertain times, is far too long. We must be able to readdress the uncertainty in the world’s financial markets for our members.”
BCMEA, in a separate statement Tuesday, said ILWU’s “internal caucus leadership rejected the tentative agreement, before it was even taken to a vote of the full union membership.”
The employer group said the proposed “fair and comprehensive package could not satisfy some of (ILWU’s) internal caucus leadership, and in rejecting this tentative agreement, ILWU leadership is choosing to further harm Canada’s economy, international reputation and most importantly, to Canadians, their livelihoods and all those that rely on a stable supply chain.”
BCMEA said the proposal had called for “considerable hikes in wages and benefits” that are “generally above the established norm of recent private and public sector union settlements in British Columbia and Canada.”
The tentative deal had also included “specific provisions that addressed the union’s concern regarding ‘contracting out’ work and measures to improve training, recruitment and retention of ILWU trades workers now and in the future,” the employer association said.
Among those provisions, BCMEA said, the deal called for “benefit coverage for all casual trades workers, a tool allowance, and a commitment to increase apprentices in the industry by 15 per cent.”
A statement was not yet available early Tuesday evening from O’Regan or Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, both of whom were attending the Atlantic Growth Strategy Leadership Committee meeting with Atlantic Canada’s premiers Tuesday in Moncton. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
