Striking International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada workers march to a rally as gantry cranes used to load and unload cargo containers from ships sit idle at port in Vancouver on Thursday, July 6, 2023.
The union representing about 7,400 B.C. port workers announced Friday that members had voted almost 75 per cent in favour of their latest contract offer, ending five weeks of turbulence that stopped the shipping of billions of dollars’ worth of goods. This included a 13-day strike that began on Canada Day, affecting more than 30 B.C. port terminals and other related sites.
Business groups and some political leaders called for back-to-work legislation amid the dispute and say concrete action is still needed now that it has come to an end, with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business asking the feds to designate ports as an essential service and scrap its promise to ban replacement workers.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce also chimed in, with Vice-President Robin Guy issuing a statement saying Ottawa needs to “consider providing new tools that can be used in the face of labour disputes in sectors that are critical to Canada’s supply chain.” “That is just a very destructive dynamic for having healthy industrial relations,” he said. “It basically short-circuits the collective bargaining process and puts the thumb on the scales for the employer side, and then reduces their incentive to actually bargain.”“If they do what the business community wants, they will not only alienate organized labour but they will also potentially find themselves violating the Charter of Rights,” he said.