VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Unionized workers at Canada’s busiest port Friday called on the maritime employers to drop a threat to impose a lock-out Sunday, and said it has no plans to call a strike.
The British Columbia Maritime Employers Association quickly rejected the union’s request, and said it had no choice but to shut down Vancouver’s port at 16:30 PST on Sunday (00:30 on Monday GMT) if the workers do not schedule a vote on the employers’ “final” contract offer.
The Canadian government meanwhile Friday made clear it would take no immediate steps to head off an impending job action at Vancouver’s port, saying workers and employers should be given time to settle their differences.
The sides are at odds over several issues including wages and the use of nonunion labor. The previous contract expired in 1998, but employees have remained on the job and were not in a legal position to call a strike until October 20.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union of Canada (ILWU) said the employers have “irresponsibly precipitated a crisis of confidence in our ports,” and dismissed the “final” offer as little different than offers it has already rejected.
“We have not threatened strike action nor have we broken off talks,” said ILWU Canada president Tom Dufresne.
Judi Longfield, parliamentary secretary to the minister of labor, in Ottawa dismissed calls by opposition members of parliament to intervene before the port’s clients took their business elsewhere.
“This is a sensitive issue. Give the parties time to work it out,” Longfield told parliament.
“There is still time for a negotiated settlement ... 95 percent of labor disputes in the last year were settled without work stoppage, without back-to-work legislation,” Longfield said.
The employers said they issued the lock-out notice because ship had already begun to divert to other ports because of uncertainty over whether the workers would suddenly set up picket lines.
Association president Bob Wilds renewed his charge that the union was blocking an agreement with unreasonable demands on ending non-union work at a company not covered by the port’s collective bargaining agreement.
The lockout would cover all ports on Canada’s Pacific coast and could stop the shipments of all products except bulk nonspecialty grain and most coal destined for Japan, port officials said.
The Vancouver Port authority has warned that a labor disruption would stop shipments of more than C$80 million in goods per day to the facility, which is Canada’s major trade link to Asia. ($1-$1.47 Canadian)
