B.C. port union weighing industry-wide strike, employer claims

The BC Maritime Employers Association says it has been told by a lawyer for the foremen’s union that an industry-wide strike vote will take place in coming weeks.

The employers’ group says the lawyer for ILWU Local 514 informed them of the vote this week after a case management meeting with the Canada Industrial Relations Board.

2:50 Business Matters: B.C. port strike averted after Industrial Relations Board steps in

No one could immediately be reached for comment from the ship and dock foreman’s union, whose 730 members work at British Columbia’s ports.

An industrial relations board hearing that is set to resume on Aug. 6 comes after the union served notice of intended strike action against DP World Canada port facilities earlier this month.

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The board ordered the union to rescind the strike notice, which the union said was in response to DP World’s plans to introduce automation in the loading and unloading of cargo containers at its Centerm facility at the Port of Vancouver.

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The employers’ association says it has offered the union a 19.2-per-cent wage increase that would take the median foreperson’s annual compensation to $293,617, not including benefits and pension.

It says the union’s lawyer told them the strike ballot would be completed by Aug. 9, and the association expected votes to take place at its members’ terminals across B.C. in coming days.