One of two west coast labour disputes threatening to disrupt the export of special crops has taken a turn for the better.
“At this stage of the game we’re pleased with the progress that we’ve been able to achieve,” said Hemi Mitic, assistant to the president of the Canadian Auto Workers.
Mitic was referring to negotiations between local 2006 of the CAW, which is made up of about 750 truckers, and the 22 companies at Port Metro Vancouver for which they work.
A week ago he was not nearly as optimistic, stating that a resolution to the conflict was going to be tough. An intervention by the government of British Columbia is what changed his outlook.
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Mitic said the province has hired additional enforcement agents to verify that the rates paid to the truckers are what was agreed to in a 2005 settlement that ended a six-week trucker strike.
The government has also agreed to sit down with Port Metro Vancouver to discuss the union’s other main irritant. The truckers, who are mostly owner-operators, claim they are losing work because the port is only issuing passes to company-owned vehicles.
The CAW is taking a more conciliatory approach to the table now that it has seen progress on both of its key issues.
“We have decided to postpone any strike votes that we had planned for this weekend and to give the process a chance to work its way through,” said Mitic.
No future date has been scheduled for a strike vote.
Meanwhile, negotiations continue on another dispute involving dock foremen working at B.C. ports in Vancouver, Squamish and Prince Rupert.
Representatives of the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association and local 514 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada, representing 425 dock foremen on the West Coast, exchanged proposals Jan. 15. The two parties agreed to meet again Jan. 23 to continue negotiations.
More than 5,000 ILWU members are expected to support local 514 if it were to go on strike. That would jeopardize the $200 million in cargo that passes through Port Metro Vancouver every day, said the port in a letter to the federal government urging that Ottawa do everything in its power to prevent a strike.
Bulk grain would still move through the West Coast in the event of a labour disruption because it is protected by federal legislation, but anything moving by container would be affected. An estimated 40 percent of Canada’s pulse crops are exported in containers.
