B.C. port union to brief workers on new collective deal ahead of vote
Labour observers are urging caution ahead of the vote, saying there's a history of union members rejecting deals struck at the negotiating table.
Longshore union negotiators will brief workers about a new tentative collective agreement with employers, ahead of a two-day vote on whether to approve the deal that could finally bring an end to British Columbia’s long-running port dispute.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada says on its website the vote will take place on Aug. 3 and 4, and reiterates that the group’s leadership caucus is recommending acceptance of the deal to its 7,400 members.
It says a “stop work” meeting will be held on Aug. 2 at the union’s Vancouver headquarters, with members of the contract negotiating committee answering questions and all members encouraged to attend.
The dispute over a new collective agreement included a strike from July 1 to 13 that froze cargo movements in and out of 30 port terminal and other sites in B.C.
Labour observers are urging caution ahead of the vote, saying there’s a history of union members rejecting deals struck at the negotiating table.
A previous tentative agreement was rejected by ILWU members last week, and University of Manitoba associate professor of labour studies David Camfield said such outcomes remain a possibility. Workers involved in the Ontario Metro supermarket strike also voted down a negotiated deal.
Camfield said union members rejecting a negotiated deal may be becoming more frequent in the short term.
“I think what we’ve seen is a reminder that no one should take for granted what the outcome will be on a ratification vote,” he said.
“There’s often an assumption that workers will just vote in favour if their bargaining committee, their leadership, is recommending that they accept a deal.”
“I think that’s the single most notable feature of those two strikes, that workers’ expectations are higher than they would have been several years ago, and they are showing that they’re not prepared to settle for what’s being put before them.”
The ILWU and the BC Maritime Employers Association said on Jul. 30 they reached the new agreement with the help of the Canada Industrial Relations Board.
Federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan had directed the board to decide if a negotiated settlement was possible, or if a deal should be imposed on both sides, after union members voted against the previous negotiated deal.
A member of the union bargaining committee on Jul. 31 recommended the latest deal for ratification after opposing a previous agreement.
Rickey Baryer, vice-president of the port workers union’s Local 500 chapter, posted on Facebook that he is “proud to recommend” the latest negotiated deal.
Baryer said in a now-deleted Facebook post ahead of the vote on the previous tentative agreement that it had been “forced” on the union by the government and would have been “the beginning of the end of our very existence.”
