One sentence on job training ends deadlock over B.C. ports contract

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After weeks of shipping disruptions that included a 13-day strike, a single sentence about job training finally broke the deadlock between employers and the union representing B.C. port workers.

Nearly 75 per cent of union members who cast their ballots on Thursday and Friday voted in favour of accepting the terms of a tentative deal that was reached on July 30. Eligible voting members had rejected an earlier tentative pact that was endorsed by the union’s leadership.

The union membership’s ratification averts a third strike while capping five turbulent weeks in labour relations that upended the flow of a wide range of products such as imports of consumer goods and exports of raw materials.

B.C. port union to brief workers on new collective deal ahead of crucial vote

The BC Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) ratified the pact on July 31. The new contract provides fresh wording meant to address union concerns about contracting out of jobs by companies belonging to the BCMEA, according to the memorandum of settlement obtained by The Globe and Mail.

One sentence of general legalese has been added to an existing clause on training protocols: “The Employer and/or the Association shall provide appropriate training to Journeyman Tradesperson (see Schedule 4 – Definitions) on how to perform Regular Maintenance Work (see Article 26.01(9)) within the scope of their trade on new equipment and existing equipment.”

The new sentence alludes to “Journeyman Tradesperson” positions such as carpenters, heavy duty mechanics, industrial electricians, plumbers and welders. Also noted is a passage in the previous collective agreement that has been renewed in the new contract for outlining “regular maintenance work.”

Members of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU) need to have procedures in place to learn new skills so that they can keep the work instead of seeing it being outsourced, said Jim Stanford, economist and director at the Centre for Future Work.

“The general goal was simply to try to get some protection against outsourcing as the technology in this industry continues to change,” he said in an interview on Saturday.

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

The ILWU commissioned Mr. Stanford to conduct a study, which he released last month. He wrote that employers already made huge profits during the COVID-19 pandemic and have been trying to maintain outsourcing to avoid union wages, benefits and protections for certain jobs.

The strike at the beginning of July at B.C. ports and a 24-hour walkout days later created upheaval in the supply chain, including trains and trucks. The labour dispute affected billions of dollars in trade, and the backlog of containers and other cargo could take until late September to fully clear.

In early July, a coalition of business groups urged the federal Liberal government to recall Parliament to introduce back-to-work legislation.

But Peter Hall, professor of urban studies at Simon Fraser University, said a federally imposed settlement would not have been a long-term solution to address the contentious issue of contracting out.

“People don’t react kindly to being pushed around,” he said in an interview on Saturday. “You legislate people back to work and suddenly they’re going slow.”

Prof. Hall and other observers said that if the labour dispute had escalated into another strike, it would have inflicted further economic pain on the Canadian economy. So, while the lingering impact will be significant, it will be less than feared because a new walkout has been averted after the truce, experts said.

When leaders at the union and BCMEA signed the eight-page memo of settlement, it outlined a series of amendments to the 113-page collective agreement that expired on March 31. The memo specifies various changes in the new four-year contract such as wage hikes, signing bonuses and increased payouts for retirees.

The memo was signed just hours after union president Rob Ashton spelled out what was at stake in his union’s battle against employers at B.C. ports.

Union secures wording for job protection in tentative deal at B.C. ports

In a statement earlier on July 30, he said the continued outsourcing of maintenance work to mostly non-union contractors would erode the ILWU’s work force.

The BCMEA, which represents 49 private-sector companies such as shipowners and terminal operators, ratified a mediated proposal on July 13. The four-year deal reached on July 30 is virtually identical to the mediated proposal, which emerged after talks stalled at the bargaining table – the key difference now being the one sentence on job training.

The union and employers clashed in July over one word – “regular” – when seeking to define what constitutes “regular maintenance work” for ILWU members, according to two sources familiar with the situation.

The union asked the BCMEA to remove the word “regular,” arguing that it is too restrictive, the sources said. The word is mentioned three times in passages about “regular maintenance work” in provisions about dock duties outlined in the collective agreement. But employers refused to budge because they feared that the ILWU would be unfairly expanding its jurisdiction beyond what has been customary for decades for regular maintenance work at terminals.

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

Workers who operate equipment for moving cargo are ILWU members, and so are employees who conduct regular maintenance on that equipment such as engineers and mechanics. But when a roof needs to be replaced, for example, employers call in a third party that specializes in roofing, or if rails need replacing, then rail-yard companies are called.

Business groups have been sounding the alarm about the damage that the labour impasse has done to Canada’s reputation as a reliable trading partner.

The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade estimates that work stoppages in July led to the disruption of nearly $10.7-billion worth of goods, based on a rate of $800-million a day.

“Businesses in Greater Vancouver and across the country are breathing a sigh of relief that ports and supply chains are returning to normal,” board of trade president Bridgitte Anderson said in a statement.

Other groups such as the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Canadian Federation of Independent Business and Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters also welcomed news of the ratification, and urged the federal government to take measures to prevent such labour disputes from happening in the future.

The new collective agreement 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 the memo of settlement. That works out to a compounded wage hike of 19.2 per cent over four years. As well, there is a signing bonus or “inflation adjustment allowance” of about $3,000 for a full-time worker.

The memo said there will also be gradual increases totalling $15,000 to a retirement fund that currently has an $81,250 lump-sum payout for eligible new retirees. They stand to receive $96,250 starting in the fourth year of the new contract, on top of their benefits and pension. The retirement fund is aimed at compensating employees for modernization and mechanization, known as M&M payments.

About 7,400 ILWU members halted their 13-day strike on July 13 and then staged the short walkout several days later. The Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) ruled that the walkout lacked the required 72-hour strike notice, and ordered the dock workers to drop their picket lines.

Federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan asked the CIRB on July 29 to intervene in what has been a roller-coaster ride for the union, employers and the Canadian economy.

“Minister O’Regan has directed federal officials to review how a disruption on this scale unfolded,” said a joint statement late Friday night from Mr. O’Regan and Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez.

The latest deal was negotiated under the guidance of the CIRB, and union leaders recommended that the rank and file accept the pact.

The BCMEA said the median annual income for full-time longshore workers will climb to $162,000 a year, starting in the fourth year of the contract, compared with $136,000 in 2022.

About 6,000 of the ILWU members are in the Vancouver region, 1,000 in the Prince Rupert area in northern B.C. and the rest on Vancouver Island. Full-time employees account for about 40 per cent of the work force.

The previous five-year contract expired on March 31, with a base rate on weekdays of $48.23 an hour on the day shift. That rate will gradually rise, reaching $57.51 an hour in the fourth year of the new contract, the memo said. The deal also includes rate increases for the higher-wage night and weekend shifts, and premiums for working graveyard shifts and holidays.

The ILWU listed three key issues: contracting out of jobs, cost-of-living wage increases and the impact of automation on job security.

The ratification process exposed a gap in positions between the ILWU’s caucus, which consists of representatives from five longshore locals, and the union’s bargaining committee.

In mid-July, only days after the union’s bargaining team approved the mediated tentative pact to initially end the strike, the caucus voted instead to reject the settlement, triggering the new walkout. The caucus changed its position days later and approved the package in a new vote, only to have the eligible voting members reject the mediated proposal on July 27-28.