BC’s port strike enters day five, with talks stalled over maintenance
VANCOUVER – Talks between maritime employers and the union representing British Columbia’s longshoremen continue to stall over maintenance issues as the workers’ strike enters its fifth day.
Both sides have issued statements favoring a maintenance deal as the reason talks stalled Monday, causing more than 7,000 workers at 30 British Columbia ports to strike since Saturday morning.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada says its jurisdiction over maintenance is being eroded by the use of contractors, and the main issue is employers’ refusal to agree to “one sentence” of a maintenance document.
The BC Maritime Employers Association, meanwhile, says the union is seeking to “aggressively expand” its control over maintenance tasks well beyond an agreement that the association says has been “well established in law for decades.”
It says union workers are already unable to perform tasks for which they have jurisdiction, and changing the rules would have “immediate and significant consequences” at ports.
Business organizations and officials in both Alberta and Saskatchewan have called on Ottawa to step in and end the strike, but Federal Labor Secretary Seamus O’Regan says he wants the union and employers to return to the negotiating table.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on July 5, 2023.
