VANCOUVER – The BC Maritime Employers Association has released details of its final offer to the union representing more than 700 foremen, ahead of a looming lockout on Monday.
VANCOUVER – The BC Maritime Employers Association has released details of its final offer to the union representing more than 700 foremen, ahead of a looming lockout on Monday.
The offer, dated Wednesday and addressed to Frank Morena, president of International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514, was released to reporters on Saturday.
It includes a 19.2 percent increase over the four-year agreement – which would run from April 2023 to March 31, 2027 – as well as a 16 percent increase in the pension benefit and a 10 percent increase in employer contributions to the welfare plan. and an average lump sum of $21,000 for eligible employees, including back payments since the contract expired.
The employers’ organization says in the email to Morena that it has been negotiating with the union for almost two years about the extension of their collective labor agreement, which expired in March 2023, and that the offer reflects its “sincere commitment to finalizing the negotiations” reflects.
Morena was not immediately available for comment, but previously said that workers are “extremely angry” about employers’ refusal to negotiate on major issues such as staffing requirements as more automation is introduced at the ports, and that the lockout is a ” attempt to get the federal government to intervene in the dispute.”
The union issued a 72-hour strike notice Thursday over the jobs action that begins at 8 a.m. Monday, which subsequently prompted the employers’ association to issue a formal notice that it will “defensively” lock out members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 from the same time.
There have already been a number of recent disruptions at the Port of Vancouver, Canada’s largest port, due to labor unrest.
The list includes a days-long picket at several grain terminals in September, a work stoppage at both major Canadian railways in August, and a dock workers’ strike last year that lasted 13 days and froze billions in trade at the port.
Extensive jobs action on Thursday at the Port of Montreal also closed two container terminals, halting 40 per cent of container capacity at Canada’s second-largest port.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 2, 2024.
Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian Press