Justine HunterJOHN LEHMANN
A law ordering striking truckers back to work in the Port Metro Vancouver dispute is being fast-tracked through the B.C. legislature, with the government aiming to have it passed by Thursday. The bill will impose a 90-day cooling-off period to allow for a negotiated settlement using the aide of B.C.'s foremost labour mediator.
B.C. Labour Minister Shirley Bond opened debate Tuesday on Bill 25, the Port Metro Vancouver Container Trucking Services Continuation Act, with an expression of regret for using the legislative hammer, and an offer intended to soften the blow: The services of Vince Ready to help negotiate an end to the dispute.
A veteran mediator who has played a pivotal role in dozens of major B.C. labour disputes that span decades, Mr. Ready has been retained to step in and try to bring labour peace.
The port dispute began to attract national attention on March 10 when 250 unionized truckers joined non-union truckers in a protest of working conditions at Canada's largest port, which normally handles about $125-million in containerized goods daily. The dispute has dramatically slowed port operations.
Mr. Ready has settled some of the province's toughest labour battles, in forestry and fishing, nursing and teaching, buses and ferries. He once settled a sexual-harassment dispute in a fire hall by ordering up plain, white underwear for all the firefighters, men and women alike.
Jim Sinclair, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour, first met Mr. Ready during a high-stakes strike in the fishing industry in 1989. Under the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, companies were sending B.C. fish south of the border for processing for the first time, and demanding major concessions from the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union in order to keep the work in the province.
"We had been on strike for three weeks and talks were at a critical moment," Mr. Sinclair recalled. The union tabled a proposal that they thought was as far as they could go. "Vince walked in and said, 'you are not even close.' " Mr. Ready left the union officials stewing for three hours, before returning and offering an industrial commission to look into the dispute.
"And by the next morning, we are back at work," Mr. Sinclair said. "He puts together the package. He'll move you to that agreement, it's all about timing. He is brilliant at timing."
Mr. Ready cut his teeth as a union negotiator but has earned a reputation for even-handedness that has earned the respect of both employees and unions.
"Vince is very special, he has an understanding and the respect of all the parties – nobody can take him for granted," Mr. Sinclair said.
Ms. Bond agreed: "It's just a track record of hard work... and delivering," she said in an interview. "That is exactly what we are looking for here, someone with a reputation for fairness. When the truckers are able to come back to work, I think they will recognize in good faith we want Vince Ready at the table working through these issues."
Transport Canada appointed Mr. Ready earlier this month to conduct an independent review, after the truckers' union, Unifor–Vancouver Container Truckers' Association, lobbied to bring him in. Although the union brass endorsed Mr. Ready's recommendations on their key issues of concern, the truckers rejected the terms and vowed to continue job action.
Mr. Ready knows the challenges well, however. He settled the last dispute at the port after 44 days of mediation in 2005. "There are a number of complexities in this dispute that don't exist in other labour disputes," he noted at that time. In other words, it is a tough file, even for Mr. Ready.
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Justine Hunter