B.C. port union withdraws strike notice as Ottawa weighs options

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The union representing 7,400 B.C. port workers has rescinded its strike notice for this weekend, averting another work stoppage even as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office directed federal ministers to pursue all available options to ensure cargo will move steadily.

Union leaders issued a 72-hour strike notice scheduled to take effect on Saturday, only to later withdraw that notice, union president Rob Ashton and the BC Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) said in separate statements late Wednesday. The BCMEA represents 49 private-sector companies such as shipowners and terminal operators.

A timeline of the B.C. port workers strike over the past month

Still, a wide range of organizations such as the Business Council of Canada and an array of politicians, including premiers, have been repeatedly urging the federal Liberal government to recall Parliament to introduce back-to-work legislation. Parliament is currently on a summer recess until September.

“Workers and employers across Canada – and all Canadians – cannot face further disruption,” a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said late Wednesday.

Mr. Trudeau convened an emergency meeting on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the labour impasse between B.C. port workers and their employers. The meeting was held with the Incident Response Group, federal ministers who gather in the event of a national crisis or incidents with major implications for Canada.

Members of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU) halted their 13-day strike on July 13, but walked off the job again starting on Tuesday afternoon, for 24 hours.

About 6,000 of the ILWU’s members are in the Vancouver region, 1,000 in the Prince Rupert area and the rest on Vancouver Island.

Federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan described the new walkout this week as illegal because the union did not provide 72 hours notice. After Mr. O’Regan’s comments, employees in Prince Rupert and on Vancouver Island returned to work on Wednesday afternoon. Employees in Vancouver were scheduled to start trickling back to work on Thursday.

The Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) “ruled that the ILWU Canada cease and desist from participating in any strike action,” Mr. O’Regan tweeted on Wednesday.

The disruption to Canada’s supply chain, including trains and trucks, halted the flow of a wide range of products, such as imports of consumer goods and exports of raw materials.

On Tuesday, the ILWU’s caucus that includes representatives of locals rejected the tentative four-year pact that had been approved on July 13 by the union’s bargaining unit.

“The ILWU has followed Canadian labour law which holds that a strike continues from the moment of job action until the ratification of a collective agreement,” Mr. Ashton said in a statement on Wednesday.

Mr. Ashton said the union will respect the CIRB’s decision, but will be appealing it.

The Globe and Mail asked Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s office whether the Official Opposition would support back-to-work legislation. The office referred The Globe to Mr. Poilievre’s response on Wednesday morning at his news conference, where he did not directly answer when asked whether it was time to legislate an end to what was then a second strike at B.C. ports.

The minority Liberal government regularly relies on support from the NDP on key votes and the New Democrats have said they would oppose the use of back-to-work legislation.

On Wednesday morning, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he would support back-to-work legislation because the job action had been affecting the entire country. He said it was a key focus of the recent meeting of premiers at the Council of the Federation meeting last week in Winnipeg.

At a news conference in Ottawa, when asked whether he would support the federal government legislating workers back to work, he replied: “100 per cent. That’s really up to them.”

He added that some retailers aren’t able to procure products such as barbecue parts as a result of the strike, and said that is why he supports local producers.

The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade estimates that the walkout resulted in the disruption of $9.9-billion worth of goods between the morning of July 1 and afternoon of July 13, based on a rate of $800-million a day.

The ILWU listed contracting out as one of its three main issues, along with cost-of-living wage increases and the impact of automation on job security.

The tentative four-year deal, which had been intended to end the strike, provides for wage hikes of 5 per cent in each of the first two years, followed by increases of 4 per cent in each of the final two years, according to two sources familiar with what the employers had hoped would be an acceptable pact.

That is a total of 18 per cent nominally, and works out to a compounded wage hike of 19.2 per cent over four years.

The Globe is not identifying the sources because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Under the recommended pact from the federal mediator, there is also a signing bonus and an 18.5-per-cent increase to a retirement fund that currently has a $81,250 payout for eligible new retirees.

The union sought a two-year agreement, while employers proposed a four-year deal.

At the bargaining table, the ILWU requested a wage raise of 11 per cent in the first year and 6 per cent in the second year, as well as an $8,000 signing bonus as an “inflation adjustment allowance,” the two sources said. Under the mediated proposal, the signing bonus would be about $3,000, depending on the hours worked in 2022.

The BCMEA’s proposed four-year pact included wage increases of 5 per cent in the first year, 3.5 per cent in the second year, 3 per cent in the third year and 2.5 per cent in the fourth year.

With a report from Laura Stone