Americas News
Port Metro Vancouver Hit by Strike Action
Unionised truck drivers are joining picket lines at Port Metro Vancouver after rejecting a tentative deal in a Saturday vote, industry news site Today's Trucking reports.
"This will have an immediate impact on the ports because there won't be a lot of container truck traffic moving — this is almost 50 per cent of the traffic," said Gavin McGarrigle, British Columbia area director of the Unifor-Vancouver Container Truckers' Association (Unifor-VCTA).
Non-union truck drivers already walked off the job in late February to protest conditions including long lineups and wait times.
The union truckers are seeking higher, and standardised, pay rates, arguing that the average pay rate for Port Metro Vancouver truckers is $15.59 per hour, compared with a British Columbia average of $23 per hour.
"The immediate economics of the situation for our members is just intolerable," McGarrigle said.
"That's why they gave us the result they did."
Union members, who had been poised to strike Thursday, agreed to discuss issues with a mediator, but in the end they overwhelmingly rejected a proposed deal.
The port is also suing the United Truckers Association, which represents at least 1,000 non-union truckers, claiming protesters have cut the breaks on some trucks and harassed drivers who continued working.
McGarrigle has said that a strike by the approximately 400 union drivers strike could have an outsize impact since other unions such as the International Longshore & Warehouse Union may refuse to cross their picket lines.
