BC Port employers reveal details of final offer to foremen union ahead of lockout

VANCOUVER — The Maritime Employers Association of British Columbia has released details of its final proposal to the union representing more than 700 foremen ahead of a looming lockout on Monday.

The proposal, dated Wednesday and addressed to International Trucking and Warehouse Union Local 514 President Frank Morena, was released to reporters Saturday.

It includes a 19.2% increase over the four-year agreement, which runs from April 2023 to March 31, 2027, as well as a 16% increase in pension benefits and a 10% increase in employer contributions to the Social Security plan. and an average lump sum payment of $21,000 for eligible employees, including back pay after contract expiration.

The employers’ association said in an email to Morena that it has been negotiating with the union for nearly two years to extend the collective bargaining agreement, which expired in March 2023, and the proposal represents a “sincere desire to complete negotiations.”

Morena was not available for comment, but she previously said workers were “extremely dissatisfied” with employers’ refusal to negotiate on important issues such as staffing requirements as more automation is introduced at the ports and the lockout is “an attempt to force the federal government to intervene in the dispute.” .

On Thursday, the union called a 72-hour strike over workers’ actions that would begin Monday at 8 a.m., which then prompted the employers’ association to issue a legal notice that it would “protectively” ban members of the International Trucking and Warehouse Union, Local 514, starting at the same time.

The Port of Vancouver, Canada’s largest port, has already experienced a number of disruptions due to labor unrest.

The list includes days of picketing at several grain terminals in September, a shutdown of Canada’s largest railroads in August and a dock workers’ strike last year that lasted 13 days and froze billions of dollars in trade at the docks.

An extended jobs drive Thursday at the Port of Montreal also closed two container terminals, idling 40 per cent of container capacity at Canada’s second-largest port.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 2, 2024.

Brianna Charlebois, The Canadian Press