VANCOUVER, B.C. – The Port of Vancouver, Canada’s busiest, was open yesterday for the first time in more than a week following a labor dispute between shippers and longshoremen.; The port, which normally serves 10 ships a day and handles about $60.1 million worth of freight, had one ship confirmed for yesterday. Officials expected as many as six ships before this morning, the port authority said.
Port workers agreed to return to their jobs after a lockout by maritime employers was ended under a threat of back-to-work legislation.
“We have 11 deep-sea ships at anchor; we’re working now to get ships to re-establish their weekly calls,” said Jamie Lamb, a spokesman for the port.
Several of the ships are grain and coal vessels, and their shipments weren’t interrupted by the dispute.
The British Columbia Maritime Employers Association, which represents 70 companies, locked out as many as 4,000 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 500 on Nov. 7. The workers objected to shippers contracting their work out to non-union companies.
Under the agreement reached yesterday, employers agreed to consult the union before work is contracted out and provided a 9.5 percent raise over the four-year term of a new contract to a base rate of $27.76 (Canadian) an hour from $25.36. The workers rejected an earlier offer of $26.71. Union workers will receive raises of 40 cents (Canadian) an hour this year and 65 cents an hour in each of the next three years.
Union executives recommended the agreement to their members, who will vote on it later today.
Canadian National Railway Co., Canada’s largest railroad, said it would resume container shipments to the port immediately.
“With the lifting of the lockouts we were right there to see traffic was redirected,” Canadian National spokesman Mark Hallman said. The company had been diverting container traffic to ports in Seattle and Tacoma.
