B.C. port employers issue lockout notice in contract dispute with foremen union

Ports in British Columbia are waking up to the possibility of another provincewide labour disruption as employers say they will lock out members of the union representing more than 700 foremen after it served a strike notice.

The B.C. Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) said it has issued a formal notice that it will "defensively" lock out members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 514 starting Monday at 9 a.m. PT.

The lockout, which would shut down all cargo operations among association members across B.C., is meant to "facilitate a safe and orderly wind-down of operations" in light of "escalating and unpredictable strike action," a statement from the BCMEA said.

Employers said the union issued a 72-hour strike notice that job action would begin at 8 a.m. PT Monday, after three days of mediated talks this week yielded no agreement in the dispute that has been ongoing since the last contract expired in March 2023.

But Local 514 president Frank Morena said workers had only planned to "engage in limited job action" through an overtime ban and a refusal to implement tech change, and it was the employers who "completely overreacted" by threatening a "full-scale lockout."

Morena said workers are now "extremely angry" due to what they described as the employers' refusal to bargain on major issues such as manning requirements in the face of more port automation, adding that the lockout is an "attempt to force the federal government to intervene in the dispute."

"Our members have repeatedly tried since our contract expired on March 31, 2023, to bargain a new contract without any job action but the BCMEA employers have refused to move and now want to create a crisis instead of negotiating," Morena said in a union release.

The union is also accusing the employers of not showing up for negotiations on Thursday, the last scheduled day of mediated talks this week, while also failing to notify others that they would not be participating.

"The BCMEA and its members clearly don't want to reach an agreement even when federal mediators and the union are standing by to continue talks — what kind of employer takes their ball and goes home when everybody else is on the field?" Morena said.

The employers association said its final offer to the union remains open for workers to accept unless it is withdrawn.

"We did not arrive to this decision lightly," the BCMEA said in its statement announcing the lockout. "This regretful action follows thorough consideration of ILWU Local 514's continued intransigence and their provocative decision to proceed with another strike notice."

The association is prepared to rescind the lockout notice if the union withdraws its strike notice, the statement added.

Latest port disruption

There have been a number of recent disruptions at the Port of Vancouver, Canada's largest, due to labour unrest.

It includes a days-long picketing effort at several grain terminals in September, a work stoppage involving both major Canadian railways in August, and a 13-day port worker strike last year that froze billions in trade at the docks.

The current dispute between the foremen and their employers centre around one employer, DP World. The union says it tried to negotiate directly with the company but was overruled by the Canada Industrial Relations Board that it cannot bargain with a single employer.

The union said in September that members voted 96 per cent in favour of taking strike action against employers if necessary.

Meanwhile, dockworkers at the Port of Montreal walked off the job Thursday morning, forcing the indefinite shutdown of two container terminals at the country's second-biggest port. The walkout follows a three-day strike at the same two container terminals earlier this month over scheduling.