Proposal to end Port strike waits on truckers

Federal, provincial governments sign off on mediator’s suggestions

Federal, provincial and Port Metro Vancouver officials have signed off on a proposal for ending the two- week- old container trucking dispute that has crippled truck traffic at the port’s four terminals.

All that is left is to present it to the striking drivers to find out if it answers their key concerns over waiting times and rates, which federal Transportation Minister Lisa Raitt said will happen soon.

Raitt, in an emailed statement sent late Thursday, said she appointed veteran mediator Vince Ready to review the situation and make recommendations on bringing the parties together for a resolution.

“We now have his recommendations, which we believe will provide all parties with the basis for a path forward. We look forward to announcing that path with the province and the Port of Vancouver shortly, and to the Port resuming normal operations.”

Earlier Thursday, Premier Christy Clark pleaded for urgent action to resolve the dispute, which has dealt a serious blow to trade worth $ 885 million per week, according to Port Metro Vancouver estimates.

From Victoria, provincial Transportation Minister Todd Stone said the proposal is a 14- point joint plan based on recommendations that Ready handed to the government parties late Wednesday.

Stone said provincial Ministry of Transportation and federal Transport Canada civil servants worked with port officials late into the night to draft its terms.

By Thursday afternoon, Stone said, the port and province had signed off on it, but it needed Raitt’s approval because 12 of its 14 recommendations are in federal jurisdiction.

However Raitt, in her statement, maintained that the heart of the dispute “remains a matter of provincial jurisdiction. We are prepared to play a constructive role if it will help ensure that the Port of Vancouver is able to resume normal operations.”

Officials involved have heard that container ships would start diverting to Seattle within 24 hours, Stone said, which would “strike a very significant blow to not just British Columbia’s economy but the Canadian economy.”

He added that the dispute has put Canada’s biggest port “down on its knees.”

Some 1,200 to 1,300 nonunion drivers represented by the United Trucking Association parked their rigs Feb. 26 out of frustration over waiting times and were joined by about 400 unionized drivers represented by Unifor- Vancouver Container Truckers Association, who officially went on Strike Monday.

While the 14 points likely won’t address all the issues raised by the striking drivers, Stone said, they are designed to resolve what he called the three key issues: per- delivery rates, licensing, and congestion that results in drivers spending hours waiting to pick up or drop off containers and reduces their earnings.

“Hopefully they will see that it goes a long way toward answering their concerns and get them back to work,” Stone said.

Whatever is in the proposal, it will need to show a lasting resolution to the lengthy waiting times at port terminals,

We need security and stability. The only reason the wheels came off the bus, so to speak, was because terminal service dropped drastically. MANNY DOSANGE UNITED TRUCKERS ASSOCIATION

according to UTA spokesman Manny Dosange.

“We need security and stability,” Dosange said, adding that “the only reason the wheels came off the bus, so to speak, was because terminal service dropped drastically.”

He added that while UTA drivers want to see per- delivery rates to haul containers increased to “reflect today’s economy,” they kept working under rates that have remained unchanged since they were set in 2005, under a Ready- brokered deal, to settle the last port trucking dispute.

Unifor representatives did not respond to The Sun’s calls Thursday, but earlier in the week Gavin McGarrigle, area director for the union, said his side wants to see the creation of an employers association to help solidify a highly fragmented sector of the trucking industry.

McGarrigle noted that the per- container rates only apply to owner- operator drivers, not drivers who work as employees of trucking companies. And there are more than 150 companies with licenses to haul containers, which the union argues leaves lots of loopholes for undercutting rates.

Meanwhile, the strike was the subject of meetings and conference calls at boardrooms across the country.

Ron Davidson of the Canadian Meat Council said more than 543,000 tonnes of meat, poultry and fish were shipped through the port to customers around the world last year.

“Basically all of our West Coast big markets — Japan and China and what we are hoping to do in Korea, Singapore, all of those Pacific countries. It’s a big impact.”

Gordon Bacon, CEO of Pulse Canada, said the dispute is already affecting the $ 2.77 billiona- year pea, lentil, bean and chickpea industry.

Locally, shipments of B. C. forest products have been choked off because of the amount of lumber for export piling up at Lower Mainland reloading facilities, and local businesses have been waiting for merchandise in shipping containers that are stranded at the dock.

Vancouver’s port moves more than $ 170 billion worth of goods each year. Trucks transport about half the containers that move in and out of the port. The rest are moved by rail.