More than 300 unionised and hundreds of non-unionised truckers who move containers in and out of Canada's largest port are set to strike today, an action that threatens to significantly slow shipments of the country's resources to Asia.
The prospect of a strike comes after the truckers voted Saturday to reject a tentative agreement reached Thursday with a mediator appointed by the Canadian government to complete an independent review of the truckers' concerns by May 30, reported Dow Jones Newswires.
The deal "was too little, too late," Gavin McGarrigle, BC area director of Unifor-Vancouver Container Truckers' Association, said in an interview. A port spokesman refused to comment.
Unionised and non-union trucks are responsible for handling about 50 percent of the traffic at Port Metro Vancouver and railroads account for the rest. As Canada's largest port, it trades US$154.95 billion in goods annually with more than 160 trading economies. Grains and other resources are exported to Asian markets from the facility. It also serves as the gateway for retail goods shipped from China to Canada's market.
A truckers' strike would "severely cripple" port activity, McGarrigle predicted. In a March 6 release, the port said its operations had been "severely impacted" as a result of protests by truckers over labour issues ahead of Saturday's vote.
The truckers and the port officials are at odds over pay rates, wait times truckers face to unload cargo and new fees, McGarrigle said.
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