Workers on the picket line at Neptune Terminal in North Vancouver. A B.C. business group is asking a federal commission to find long-term solutions to labour disputes at the province's ports. The latest lockout began on Nov. 4, but conflicts between employers and the union representing port workers have disrupted West Coast trade for decades.ETHAN CAIRNS/The Canadian Press
The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade is urging a new federal commission to find durable solutions to reduce the frequency of labour disputes at British Columbia ports.
Two reports commissioned by the federal government into West Coast ports – one released in 1995 and the other in 2010 – warned of labour strife ahead in the long term.
Nationally, over the past two years alone, a series of work stoppages have hit Canada’s supply chain, including last year at the St. Lawrence Seaway and this year at the Port of Montreal, where a lockout began on Sunday night.
A lockout at B.C. ports started on Nov. 4, but conflicts between employers and the International Longshore & Warehouse Union Canada have temporarily disrupted trade on the West Coast for decades.
Earlier this year, the federal government appointed veteran mediator Vince Ready to head an industrial inquiry commission into clashes at B.C. ports. Mr. Ready is chairing the two-person commission, with the other member being Vancouver lawyer Amanda Rogers.
“The commission must look closely at historical structural issues, the instability these disruptions have caused and new tools to support certainty to safeguard the public interest,” read a letter sent by the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade to federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon.
The letter, dated Nov. 7 and signed by board president Bridgitte Anderson, has been copied to Mr. Ready and Ms. Rogers.
The root causes of the new West Coast lockout were foreshadowed in two reports that are gathering dust but offer insights into persistent labour strife at B.C. ports.
“The reality is that parties resist compromise bargaining because they expect government intervention and/or legislation if there is a strike or lockout,” according to a report into B.C. ports that was issued in 2010 by federal mediators Ted Hughes and John Rooney. “This causes them to stand pat on their respective positions until that happens.”
The 2010 report echoed an earlier study, a 1995 commission headed by Hugh Jamieson and Bruce Greyell, that outlined a key reason behind labour disputes at West Coast ports: Union leaders are unhappy about having to negotiate with a group of employers and instead want the ability to target a specific company when needed.
The BC Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) currently represents 49 private-sector companies such as shipowners and terminal operators.
“In the long run, the present structure of the BCMEA hardly seems to be a recipe for stable industrial relations,” Mr. Jamieson and Mr. Greyell wrote.
In the latest West Coast dispute, the BCMEA locked out about 730 ship and dock forepersons on Nov. 4, shortly after the union started what it called limited strike action that included a ban on overtime. More than 30 terminals are affected in the Vancouver region, Prince Rupert, Nanaimo and Port Alberni.
The lockout of the supervisors belonging to Local 514 of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union Canada follows work stoppages at B.C. ports in July, 2023, when there was a 13-day strike by rank-and-file workers and then a 24-hour walkout days later.
Mr. Ready and Ms. Rogers have been tasked with examining the history of labour relations at West Coast ports and seeking ways to ensure the stability of Canada’s international trade.
“We are in desperate need of a short-term solution to the current dispute. However, this current dispute only re-emphasizes the need for more lasting and durable solutions,” Ms. Anderson said in her letter to Mr. MacKinnon.
A statement from Mr. MacKinnon’s office confirmed that the commission has been studying underlying issues in a series of conflicts at B.C. ports.
“The commission has been meeting with stakeholders, and reviewing and analyzing stakeholder submissions,” according to the statement. “The commission has very recently started drafting the report and is on track to present its findings and recommendations to the Minister in spring 2025 as planned.”
The enduring system of having the association of employers conduct contract talks on behalf of its members has increased tensions with union leaders instead of attaining labour peace on the waterfront.
For example, leaders of Local 514 are concerned about semi-automation at DP World Canada’s Centerm container terminal at the Port of Vancouver.
A decision last month by the Canada Industrial Relations Board dismissed Local 514’s complaint of bad-faith bargaining on the part of DP World Canada, but acknowledged the complexities. “The union cannot take advantage of one bargaining structure versus another as it pleases or as it advantages it most,” the board said.
The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade is warning that closing a wide range of B.C. terminals is disrupting up to $800-million a day in trade, leading to cancelled train and truck deliveries. Only a handful of operations remain open, such as sites for exporting coal, heavy oil and bulk grain.
Earlier this year, the shutdown of Canada’s two largest railways temporarily delayed freight deliveries for several days in August.
In September, there was a four-day strike by grain terminal workers at the Port of Vancouver after a dispute with the Vancouver Terminal Elevators’ Association.
The Business Council of British Columbia said it is looking forward to reading the recommendations next year from Mr. Ready and Ms. Rogers.
“We hope that a better way can be found for parties to collectively bargain and resolve disputes without resorting to industrial actions that risk damaging the well-being of consumers, workers and businesses across the rest of the economy,” the council said in a statement last week.