Trucking companies ‘playing with fire’
At least two are disregarding legislated wage rates.
GAVIN McGARRIGLE
At least two companies continue to disregard provincially legislated wage rates established for truckers transporting containers through Port Metro Vancouver following a bitter labour dispute in 2014.
And truckers say that among the nearly 100 container trucking firms, there are more companies disregarding the rules.
The B. C. government has acknowledged six companies failed in the first round of audits completed recently by the newly created Office of the B.C. Container Trucking Commissioner.
Two firms have refused to pay drivers retroactive rates in a deal reached last year with the province and Ottawa that ended the one-month truckers’ strike, according to the Ministry of Transportation.
The other four companies have now paid.
Another 13 audits are underway and more are planned of the firms that hire truckers directly or contract independent truckers to drop off and pick up containers at the Lower Mainland’s container terminals, including those in Vancouver, Surrey and Delta.
Although B.C. Transportation Minister Todd Stone is talking tough, saying the legislated wage rate and retroactive pay stipulated in new legislation passed last year will be enforced, names of the companies have not been released and there have been no sanctions yet.
This despite a letter sent by Stone on Aug. 10 of this year to then-container trucking commissioner Andy Smith telling him to enforce the new legislation, and to identify and address non- compliance of trucking companies. He called on Smith to publish the first audit results no later than Aug. 31 and future publications to take place in a timely manner.
Smith quit suddenly the next month.
It has left truckers wondering whether the B.C. government is serious about enforcing its own legislation that was supposed to bring labour peace to the port through which about $850 million worth of goods move each week.
Tempers flared during the strike last spring, with reports of vandalism and brake lines being cut of container trucks that tried to get into the port. Shippers complained they were being hurt by the strike, with lumber destined for Asia piling up at Interior sawmills and other shippers diverting goods to U.S. ports.
Premier Christy Clark called on Ottawa to intervene and then threatened back-to-work legislation.
Mediator Vince Ready was brought in to help find a negotiated resolution, but not before the port received an injunction to prevent truckers blocking access to the port and filing court action against some truckers for disruptive protesting and property destruction.
Stone has appointed Ready and his labour mediation partner Corinn Bell as acting deputy commissioner and acting commissioner for the Container Trucking Commissioner Office. Unifor union B.C. area director Gavin McGarrigle says that’s a good move, but drivers are so skeptical that, until they see money in their hands, they are not going to believe anything or anyone.
“I don’t blame them,” McGarrigle said.
“Until some of these rogue companies are really hit hard with penalties and the worst offenders are kicked right out of the port, they are just going to continue to get away with it.”
While the union is prepared to strike again for retroactive pay and wages, it does not believe it should have to as the deal has been set in law, McGarrigle said.
In an interview Thursday, Stone said sanctions are coming but because this is the first time the audit and penalty process has been used, it needs to be done carefully for administrative fairness and to ensure sanctions are fair and reasonable, which is taking more time than he and others may want.
Companies have a 30- day period in which to ask the commission for a reconsideration, so it will likely be another six to eight weeks before the first round of audits and company names are published, he said.
“Once those initial decisions are rendered, I would expect it’s at that point any companies perhaps not yet fully in compliance are going to realize that not only are there consequences, there are pretty severe consequences,” said Stone.
“Any company that hasn’t paid what they should have paid by now is playing with fire.”
Until some of these rogue companies are really hit hard with penalties and the worst offenders are kicked right out of the port, they are just going to continue to getaway with it.
UNIFOR B.C. AREA DIRECTOR
Stone said the good news is he’s been told by interim commissioners Ready and Bell the audits are “bulletproof,” which show both companies not providing retroactive pay and companies that created an illusion of paying.
Under the province’s new laws, companies can be fined as much as $500,000 and have their licences suspended or cancelled for not paying back-pay or the stipulated rates.
All trucking companies had to sign a declaration they owed no retroactive pay in order to obtain a licence this year.
Notwithstanding the legislated measures, in a meeting earlier this month that included unionized and non-unionized truckers, McGarrigle said he heard of widespread nonpayment.
United Truckers Association spokesman Gagan Singh also said retroactive pay is still an issue and a complaint line set up by the commissioner’s office has not helped at all.
While Unifor has made complaints about several companies, McGarrigle was reluctant to name companies, deferring to the audit process.
He said, however, the union believed Smith, the commissioner who quit last month, was not interested in enforcing the legislation and retroactive pay. (Unifor, which represents about 400 of the 1,800 container truckers, criticized Smith’s appointment as commissioner as a conflict because he is the head of the B.C. Marine Employers Association).
In an email Smith sent on July 20 to union officials and Stone, he noted he considered a “negotiated” settlement on retroactive pay preferable to an imposed one and that it would be more conducive to labour peace in the sector.
Shortly after that, on Aug. 4, Unifor launched court action to seek relief against Smith for his refusal to enforce the wages owed to container truck drivers set in legislation. A week later, Stone sent the letter to Smith admonishing him to enforce the new laws, including “fair” pay.
Two days later, Smith sent the union a letter saying he would enforce the rules.
Smith could not be reached for comment.
B.C. Trucking Association president Louise Yako said she did not know why truckers were not receiving retroactive pay.
The association represents some of the container trucking firms.
Some companies say they were blindsided by the deal worked out by the truckers, Ottawa and the province, as they were not consulted.
Greg Vurdela, manager of container operations at Pro West Transport Ltd., said the problem is they are unable to recoup costs from customers for the retroactive pay.
This is a point for which Singh, the spokesman for the United Truckers Association, has some sympathy. He says any longterm deal needs to take into account the interest of all players. Vurdela said the liability from retroactive pay for trucking companies is in the hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars.
As a result, trucking firms are hoping to reach a new, “amicable” solution, said Vurdela, although he said they do not yet know what that might entail.
“We believe there is the ability for the parties to get together — because I think the (trucking) community understands with the liability that is hanging out there — there could literally be a number of trucking companies essentially going out of business,” he said.
“That would not be of assistance to the driver community,” noted Vurdela.
Pro West has not been audited, he said.
When asked if the company paid retroactive wages, Vurdela said they were still awaiting what they think is going to be a “more reasonable” resolution.
In a brief overview of the history of container trucking disputes at the port, the commissioner’s website notes there have been two other strikes — in 1999 and 2005, both largely over pay.
In 2005, pay rates were implemented by the federal government, but in many cases, companies had not been paying them, said the commissioner’s website.