Day 6 of B.C. port strike: management calls for binding arbitration, workers fill streets

The organization that represents employers at roughly 30 strikebound 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 (ILWU) walked off the job on Canada Day after voting overwhelmingly to strike against the BC Maritime Employers Association.

Talks stalled Monday and business groups are 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 to the Port of Vancouver.

The latest statement from the employers association says binding arbitration could bring the dispute to a swift close, something it first proposed in mid-June in the weeks before workers went off the job.

Related Articles:

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• B.C. port strike talks are deadlocked over maintenance, both sides say

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Federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan discussed the strike with his B.C. counterpart, Labour Minister Harry Bains, on Wednesday, but O’Regan has so far resisted calls to legislate the strikers back to work.

A key sticking point for the union is the classification of maintenance work and the use of outside contractors, which longshore workers say encroaches on their jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, in a statement Thursday, the ILWU is calling on the employers to end its “dirty tricks campaign” and return to bargaining.

“Instead of negotiating to end the strike at the west coast ports, the BC Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) has launched a smear campaign targeting their own workers, International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU),” the union said.

“This is straight out of the strikebreaking playbook: Instead of sitting down and negotiating with workers, they’re funding a dirty-tricks media campaign, using anonymous sources to selectively leak misleading information to reporters,” Union President Rob Ashton said.

Ashton claims several news stories that have been published since the strike began have “exaggerated the livelihoods” that union workers can earn.

“The reality is, our people do hard work under difficult, often dangerous conditions, and they kept Canada’s economy moving through the worst of the pandemic,” he said. “That’s a long ways from the picture the employer wants to paint. It can be a good living, but it takes years of sacrifice to get there, and it’s still hard work,” Ashton continued.

As of 11 a.m., striking workers had filled the sidewalks near a Port of Vancouver entry near Clark Drive and East Hastings Street.

Hundreds of people with sandwich board signs can be seen on street corners at the intersection.

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