It’s high noon today for both sides in the Vancouver port dispute.
Federal Labour Minister Claudette Bradshaw has vowed to bring in back-to-work legislation if the showdown continues past midday as the lockout enters its second week. “I have tried my best to allow as much time as possible for a negotiated settlement, and there is still time, but I must tell you that time is running out,” said Bradshaw yesterday. “I would also urge the parties to agree to immediately resume normal operation of the port. It is in their own interests and in the interest of Canadian industry, workers and the public.”
Bradshaw has promised to table back-to-work legislation in the Commons first thing tomorrow morning.
It may take up to a week for the law to take effect.
The 2,000-strong longshoremen’s union and the Maritime Employers Association are believed to be on the verge of a deal.
After negotiating through the night Friday, the sides have been making progress on the major issue of contracting out at the port.
They broke off yesterday afternoon and will be resuming bargaining at the Hotel Vancouver this morning. Bradshaw has been meeting with both sides since Friday and said she is encouraged. “Both sides want to see a negotiated end to this dispute,” she said.
“The parties have made significant progress toward a new collective agreement.” The lockout, which affects everything but grain shipments, is costing the port $90 million a day.
Shipping companies have re-routed shipments to U.S. ports but that process is proving costly, according to shipping company officials.
Western Canadian exporters who use containers are being hit with hefty surcharges for diverting traffic to U.S. gateways because of the shutdown of B.C. ports.
“Surcharges of between $400 US and $800 US a container are in effect for diverting cargo to West Coast U.S. ports,” said Dave Bedwell, an executive vice-president of China Ocean Shipping Corp.
COSCO is rerouting Canadian exports to Seattle and Long Beach. Inbound shipments to eastern Canada are being moved by rail.
“The surcharges are a big hit for exporters, who may have very slim margins,” Bedwell said.
Ronald Cartwright, president of the Chamber of Shipping of B.C., said the stoppage is damaging the hopes of Vancouver to win a significant share of Asian shipments to the U.S. Midwest.
This year saw three container lines – COSCO, Zim Israel Navigation Ltd. and Norasia Line – make Vancouver their first port of call on the West Coast and the point of discharge for traffic moving inland by rail.
Norasia’s Bruce Hodson said Norasia has started calling at Seattle and will continue to do so after B.C. ports reopen.
The company had been dispatching a container train a week from Vancouver to Chicago. “What we do about serving Chicago after Vancouver reopens is something we are still studying,” he said. Business groups had called earlier Friday for federal intervention to end the shutdown.
If the dockers are legislated back to work, the employers’ last offer will be imposed on both parties. But it is unclear what will happen in the port if the contracting-out issue remains unresolved.
KEY ISSUE
The burning issue is bright-yellow sulphur, and who handles it in the Port of Vancouver.
Last year, a Calgary-based sulphur transport company, Sultran, awarded a three-year contract to a non-union contractor, Certispec Services, to test the quality of sulphur shipments.
The work used to be done by the longshoremen’s union, mostly out of Port Moody.
The union says it can’t sign a contract that includes non-union labour.
But the employers’ group says Sultran is not one of its members, so there’s nothing it can do.
