B.C. port strike enters day 3 after negotiations fail to reach weekend deal

Talks to end the B.C. port strike resumed Monday after a 33-hour negotiation period failed to result in a deal this past weekend.

Around 7,500 workers from the ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Vancouver Island, are on the picket lines for the first time in three decades.

The International Longshore Workers Union president Rob Ashton told Global News that he is growing frustrated with the delays.

“When all Canadians were asked to stay home and stay safe — our people had to go to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week in unsafe conditions,” he said Sunday.

“Longshore workers stepped up in this historic time. Our employers gorged themselves on record profits. Now, they seem to have forgotten the sacrifices our people made. (Sunday) they refused to acknowledge those great efforts by our members.”

2:18 Day two of strike by port workers

However, some industries directly impacted by the port strike believe federal intervention is needed as a continued strike could have dire consequences on the Canadian economy in the long term.

“People often don’t realize how important manufacturing is to our economy,” Andrew Wynn-Willimas with the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters said Sunday. “Even the western provinces tend to think of us as resource provinces but we have significant manufacturing capability.

“We ship particularly from British Columbia a ton of goods to Asia. About 40 per cent of our exports do not go to the U.S. like the rest of Canada so getting that port back online is a critical issue for a really important sector of our economy.”

More to come…