The provincewide lockout against a union of more than 700 foremen at all British Columbia ports began on Monday after no deal was reached between the two sides.
A statement from the B.C. Maritime Employer Association said “ILWU Local 514’s strike action has already begun to impact to B.C.’s waterfront operations and strike activity can easily escalate, including a complete withdrawal of labour without notice.
“Accordingly, to facilitate a safe and orderly wind-down of operations, the BCMEA has made the difficult decision to lockout forepersons and other Local 514 members on Nov. 4, 2024, commencing on the 16:30 shift and continuing until further notice.”
It said the lockout will not apply to grain or cruise operations.
ILWU Local 514, which represents foremen at B.C.’s ports, issued 72-hour strike notice on Friday to carry out what it called “limited job action”, including an overtime ban.
The B.C. Maritime Employer Association responded by issuing an industry-wide lockout.
The employer said its final offer includes a 19-per cent wage increase over four years, along with a signing bonus.
The union claims the employer is “acting recklessly” and trying to get Ottawa to intervene.
In a statement issued on Monday, the union said the employer “deliberately and irresponsibly overreacted to an overtime ban by locking out its members as of 4:30 p.m. today, causing all B.C. ports to shut down in a clear effort to force the federal government to intervene.”
Picket lines will go up at 4:30 p.m. on Monday at all B.C. ports, except cruise ship and grain operations.
“Our union members have been trying since our contract expired March 31 of 2023 to reach a new collective agreement and have been more than patient in the face of BCMEA provocation, which continues today with a full-scale lockout – and threats to remove long-standing provisions of our current contract,” ILWU Local 514 president Frank Morena said in a statement.
“This is no way to settle an important dispute with the whole country watching.”
The escalating dispute has business groups worried about the possible impacts on the B.C. and Canadian economy.
“We need to have the Vancouver port operating well, it is Canada’s largest gateway and there has to be stability in the supply chain,” said Greater Vancouver Board of Trade CEO Brigitte Anderson.
“There needs to be peace and there also needs to be a message to our international trading partners that we are a reliable trading partner — if we look back over the last couple of years and the multiple disputes that have happened, and particularly the one in July of 2023 where the port was shut down for nearly two weeks, that impacted $10 billion worth of trade. That is enormous and has implications that affect businesses and consumers alike.”
The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade estimates that another shutdown at B.C. ports could put $800 million of trade at risk each day.