Mediator Meets with Vancouver Truckers

(The Journal of Commerce) Container truckers at the Port of Vancouver (schedules) met Tuesday with a mediator to discuss their proposal to settle the 17-day-old strike against motor carriers. Vince Ready, a private mediator hired by the federal and British Columbia governments, called in the Vancouver Container Truck Association, representing 1,000 drivers, for discussions after reading its 26-point proposal Friday, said Peter Graham, spokesman for federal Labor Minister Joe Fontana. Ready ended the negotiations early last week, asking either side to submit a proposal to end the dispute. The VCTA, representing mainly owner-operator contractors and some company drivers, called for resumption of operations at pre-strike levels, and that lawsuits filed by brokers against the group's leadership be withdrawn. The truckers' proposal calls for a minimum hourly rate of C$75 ($60.75) for owner-operators working a 10-hour day, and a 15 per cent fuel surcharge. For company drivers, they want C$25 an hour or 37 per cent of the gross payment made by steamship companies or shippers to the brokers. The drivers also want other demands submitted to a government commission for binding arbitration which are not addressed in negotiations. Fontana earlier said the commission would review drivers' complaints about working conditions at Vancouver and Fraser River Port but would not be launched "until normal container trucking operations resume." The strike has stalled local containers, or 40 per cent of all container traffic moving into and out of four Vancouver-area terminals. To avoid congestion, TSI Terminal Systems Inc., operator of two of the larger terminals, said it would not accept any locally-destined cargo from ships arriving at Vancouver beginning Friday if the strike is not settled.

Port Truckers Update (Canadian Press) A BC Supreme Court judge has agreed to an injunction preventing container truck drivers embroiled in a pay dispute at Vancouver-area ports from blocking certain roads. Even though Justice Ronald Holmes called the evidence "thin" he granted the injunction preventing the blockade (of the Fraser-Surrey port and Westfair Foods). Holmes said with death threats and damage to property, safety should be a top priority. The court heard that on July 7th hundreds of angry truckers stopped two container trucks, threatened their drivers and threw rocks at the rigs. The truckers' lawyer, Craig Paterson, told the court the event was isolated. Don Jordon, the lawyer for the applicant, Pro-West Transport, says he expects protests to stop at most locations. Jordan says if the behaviour continues at other port or employer locations, he'll go back to court asking to expand the injunction. Container truckers have been off the job for two weeks because of the dispute.

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