Workers on the picket line at Neptune Terminal in North Vancouver. A B.C. business group is asking a federal commission to find long-term solutions to labour disputes at the province's ports. The latest lockout began on Nov. 4, but conflicts between employers and the union representing port workers have disrupted West Coast trade for decades.
“The commission must look closely at historical structural issues, the instability these disruptions have caused and new tools to support certainty to safeguard the public interest,” read a letter sent by the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade to federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon. The 2010 report echoed an earlier study, a 1995 commission headed by Hugh Jamieson and Bruce Greyell, that outlined a key reason behind labour disputes at West Coast ports: Union leaders are unhappy about having to negotiate with a group of employers and instead want the ability to target a specific company when needed.
The lockout of the supervisors belonging to Local 514 of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union Canada follows work stoppages at B.C. ports in July, 2023, when there was a 13-day strike by rank-and-file workers and then a 24-hour walkout days later. “The commission has been meeting with stakeholders, and reviewing and analyzing stakeholder submissions,” according to the statement. “The commission has very recently started drafting the report and is on track to present its findings and recommendations to the Minister in spring 2025 as planned.”