(Journal of Commerce)
Truck drivers and
employers today will receive a package of recommendations from a mediator aimed at ending the month-long strike that has tied up local container traffic at Vancouver, B.C.
A meeting of 1,000 drivers,
all but about 250 of them independent owner-operators, is expected over the weekend to vote on whether to accept or reject the agreement by mediator Vince Ready.
The 49 brokers that hire drivers for
local motor carriers also will be asked to accept or reject Ready's proposal, which he will present to both sides at 2 p.m. local time (5 p.m. ET) in Burnaby, B.C.
Ready adjourned negotiations
Thursday after nearly 24 hours of round-the-clock bargaining. "Only a couple of outstanding issues" still divide the sides, Halliday said, adding, "The differences, while they may be narrow,
are very, very big." Mistrust between drivers and employers, he said, remains a key issue.
The sides have agreed on a rate of C$90 (US$73) for one typical one-way haul; rates vary by destination
from the Port of Vancouver and Fraser River Port. But there has been no agreement on future rate hikes and, most importantly, a mechanism to ensure that the rate hikes will stick.
A key Ready
recommendation calls for the government, and perhaps the two Vancouver port authorities, to implement a licensing system for port trucking companies and truckers. In that system, "if a trucking company
started cutting rates [it] could lose [its] license," Halliday said.
A probe into working conditions, another demand by drivers, including long wait times at terminals, will be included in the
agreement. |
