The B.C. government will introduce back-to-work legislation and Port Metro Vancouver (PMV) will start to terminate the licenses of some truckers in an effort to end Vancouver's 22-day old port trucking strike.
Victoria plans to introduce back-to-work legislation, which will include a 90-day cooling off period, on March 24. It will affect 250 truckers who are members of Unifor, according to a government press release.
In an interview March 14, B.C.'s transportation minister, Todd Stone, told Business in Vancouver he was reluctant to use back-to-work legislation, describing it as pouring "gas on the fire" of an already tense situation.
PMV hopes that taking away permits from truckers will prompt them to return to work.
"However, if they do not return to work and their permits are cancelled, those permits may be given to others who wish to become truck operators," said PMV in a March 17 statement.
Around 1,000 members of the non-unionized United Truckers Association (UTA) have been off the job since February 26. Four hundred members of Unifor-Vancouver Containter Truckers' Association have been on strike since March 8. Both groups are concerned with low pay and long waiting times at terminals.
Manny Dosange, a spokesman for UTA, questioned where the extra truckers would come from if the port started to revoke licenses.
"Morale's pretty low because no one's talking at the table," Dosange said. "Even if they wanted to go back to work, they can't, because there's no stability as far as going to work and being guaranteed they're going to make a living."
On March 14, the provincial and federal governments presented a 14-point plan to the truckers that offered a review of wage rates, extended terminal hours, a strengthened audit process to ensure drivers are getting paid the proper rate and a review of the truck licensing system.
But the VCTA said the proposal does not address "basic concerns about minimum rates for all drivers."
The 14-point proposal is based on interim recommendations from labour mediator Vince Ready, who was appointed by Lisa Raitt, the federal transport minister, to review the trucking rate and licensing system.
Ready will deliver his final report on May 30. He mediated an agreement that ended the last port trucking strike in 2005. That agreement set minimum wage rates, but the truckers say those rates have declined because of under-cutting.The shutdown has had a severe effect on B.C. businesses that rely on imports or exports. Some forestry companies have already had to lay off workers, and may have to temporarily shut down their mills starting this week.
