VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Canada’s forest industry called Thursday for the federal government to intervene in a labor dispute that has blocked most cargo shipments through the country’s West Coast ports.
No talks were scheduled between the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association and unionized workers in the dispute over wages and the use of nonunion labor that has disrupted Vancouver and other ports since Sunday.
The employers have locked out the workers.
“As of today, more than C$50 million worth of forest products have been sidelined or diverted to other ports at great cost to industry,” Council of Forest Industry President Ron MacDonald said.
Vancouver is Canada’s busiest port and the lockout has disrupted nearly C$90 million a day in shipments of cargo containers, potash, sulfur, containerized grain, timber, pulp, petrochemicals, oil and general cargo.
Bulk grain and most coal shipments have continued uninterrupted because their transport is considered an “essential service.”
Both sides in the dispute have already rejected calls for Ottawa to intervene, and federal officials have said they are reluctant to ask Parliament to issue a back to work order if it appears that the dispute can be settled through negotiations.
The chief executives of 16 forest products companies sent a letter to Prime Minister Jean Chretien warning Canada will soon lose markets in Asia to international competitors if the dispute is not resolved quickly.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union of Canada has said it will return to work if the lockout is ended, but the employers have said they will not lift the order or negotiation unless the union drops a key demand.
Although the two sides have not agreed on wages, the biggest issue dividing the employers and the union representing more than 2,000 employees is the use of six nonunion workers who monitor the loading of sulfur on to ships for Sultran Ltd.
The employers maintain they cannot legally force Sultran to contract its testing work to a union firm, but the longshore workers contend Sultran is using legal technicalities to avoid being included in the collective agreement.
Most shippers have switched to ports in the United States since the lockout began Sunday. But this has raised concern over added costs and possible congestion problems caused by trucks and trains trying to reach alternative ports.
