Day Six of BC Port Strike as Management Calls for Binding Arbitration

The organization that represents employers in about 30 strike ports in British Columbia says binding arbitration could end the six-day-old dispute.

More than 7,000 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union left their jobs on Canada Day after voting overwhelmingly to strike against the BC Maritime Employers Association.

Talks stalled Monday, with business groups increasingly demanding federal legislation to end the disruption, while CP Rail, now known as CPCK Ltd., says it has issued temporary embargoes on rail traffic into the Port of Vancouver.

The latest statement from the employers’ association says binding arbitration could quickly end the dispute, something it first proposed in mid-June, in the weeks before workers left their jobs.

Federal Secretary of Labor Seamus O’Regan discussed the strike Wednesday with his BC counterpart, Secretary of Labor Harry Bains, but O’Regan has so far resisted calls to get the strikers back to work.

A major sticking point for the union is the classification of maintenance work and the use of outside contractors, which dock workers say infringe on their jurisdiction.