Metro Vancouver grain workers begin strike Tuesday

Grain workers at terminals in Metro Vancouver walked off the job Tuesday morning.

The union representing the workers shared that a 72-hour strike notice was served to the Vancouver Terminal Elevators Association and the strike began at 7 a.m.

The association says it couldn’t come to an agreement on a new contract after mediated talks ended last month without a deal. 

Canadian grain farmers have said a strike would cripple crop exports since about 52 per cent of all Canadian-grown grain went to those terminals last year. 

Grain farmers say a strike would “halt nearly 100,000 metric tonnes” of commodities arriving each day, potentially costing $35 million daily in lost exports.

The Vancouver Terminal Elevators Association says affected operations include Viterra’s Cascadia and Pacific Terminals, Richardson International Terminal, Cargill Limited Terminal, G3 Terminal Vancouver, and Alliance Grain Terminal, all located in Vancouver and North Vancouver.

“Grain farmers in the prairies rely heavily on the Port of Vancouver to handle and export the majority of the grain they grow,” the statement from the Grain Growers of Canada says. “Following last month’s rail work stoppages, this strike will have an equally devastating impact on grain farmers across the prairies who are in the midst of harvest.”

The group is also urging federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to “use all tools available” to prevent a work stoppage from coming to pass.

“Without intervention, Canada’s international trading reputation will continue to suffer, leading to the loss of key global markets and customers,” the Grain Growers’ statement says.

Kyle Larkin, the executive director of Grain Growers of Canada, tells CityNews that the strike is going to have a huge impact on the sector.

He says the inability to move grain through the ports means farmers aren’t getting paid for the grain they’re growing right now.

Larkin says the grain sector is still only just recovering from the effects of the railway strike in August.

“We’re not at 100 per cent yet: our transportation network as it relates to grain. So we’re still recovering here, and now we have this other strike that we’re dealing with at the port so deeply concerning and certainly will have a major impact on the sector,” said Larkin.

The $35 million worth of grain shipped out of Vancouver every day, Larkin says, helps meet the international food security needs. 

“Our international reputation has been battered over the past few months and over the past few years. This is one more situation that we find ourselves in, and one more situation that’s really going to harm our international reputation at a time with other countries around the world, be it the U.S., be it Australia, be it whomever is competing for the markets that we’re in currently.”

Larkin says he’s encouraged by MacKinnon’s meeting with the negotiating parties, but says the longer the strike goes on, the longer it’s going to take to recover when work resumes.

“We need the Port of Vancouver to be functioning for the Canadian economy, but also for grain farmers, livelihoods.”

He says he doesn’t expect Canadians to feel the effects of the strike on groceries bills any time soon, but says Canada is a “trading nation” and the hit to its gross domestic product will ultimately affect the standard of living overall.

—With files from Kier Junos.