Local businesses and residents will feel the bite after International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada made good on its threat to strike Saturday morning, Surrey Board of Trade CEO Anita Huberman says.
Huberman figures damage “has already happened.
“Our grocery stores, if we haven’t already, we’re going to start feeling the pinch as consumers in terms of purchasing our groceries and different products,” she said. “Surrey has the greatest number of manufacturers within British Columbian, we rely on our ports.”
Surrey is home to one of the largest multi-purpose deep-sea marine terminals on North America’s west coast, situated along the city’s southeastern bank of the Fraser River. The terminal has seven deep-sea berths, three quay cranes that can lift up to 70 metric tonnes, and sees on average three or four freighter ships arrive for loading and unloading cargo any given week.
Mayor Brenda Locke did not return phone calls. Instead, the city’s communications department issued this statement attributed to her warning that the strike could “potentially drive inflation up further, and could also negatively impact the trucking industry in our community.”
Locke noted that more than 20 per cent of B.C.’s transportation and warehousing industry workforce is in Surrey with roughly 570 active truck transportation companies registered in the city.
“The strike will impact Surrey families who depend on these jobs. According to the Port of Vancouver, port activities support over 5,600 direct and indirect jobs in Surrey worth over $350 million in wages for occupations such as supply chain logistics, business and finance, administration, and other professional, technical, and scientific occupations,” the statement attributed to Locke reads. “I hope for an expeditious resolution to the strike to minimize the impacts on our residents and our economy.”
ILWU Local 502 represents more than 3,000 employees along the Fraser River, down to Roberts Bank, and has been representing longshoremen on the river since 1944. ILWU Canada has 12 locals and is the bargaining agent for more than 7,200 employees in B.C. Its longshore division loads, unloads and checks cargo on and off freightships, and stores goods on the docks and in warehouses.
The BCMEA represents 49 waterfront companies that collectively move roughly 60 million tonnes of goods worth $53 billion around the world each year.
The board has lobbied the federal government for back-to-work legislation.
“So has the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, which is headquartered in Ottawa,” Huberman said at press time Tuesday. “In fact they’re sending their letter today about asking the federal government to use all of the tools in their toolbox to ensure the strike is concluded efficiently and effectively so as not to compromise our Canadian economy further.
“It’s very concerning about the whole supply chain being compromised and our economy being compromised,” Huberman said.
Roughly 7,500 longshore workers walked off the job at 8 a.m. on Canada Day, July 1. The ILWU bargaining committee had issued 72-hour strike notice to the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association the previous Wednesday.
“We remain committed to negotiate an end to this dispute that respects Longshore Workers and we call on the BCMEA to drop all concessions and get serious about negotiating with the Union in good faith,” ILWU Canada president Rob Ashton noted in the bulletin.
READ ALSO: Surrey Board of Trade urging back-to-work legislation if cargo workers strike
Both sides began bargaining in February for an industry-wide collective agreement, which expired March 31.
Ashton said the union’s main objectives are to “stop the erosion of our work” as a result of contracting out, to protect “current and future generations from the devastating impacts of port automation, and to protect its members from “record high inflation” and the “skyrocketing cost of living.”
He charged that the BCMEA has repaid “hard work and dedication with demands for major concessions.
“Their only objective is to take away rights and conditions from longshore workers after having gorged themselves on record profits during the pandemic,” Ashton said.
Longshore workers, he said, kept B.C. and Canada running during the pandemic. “When Canadians were told to shelter in place, our people went to work!
“We worked in difficult and hazardous conditions to ensure that the communities where we live, and all Canadians had the necessary supplies and personal protective equipment to defend against the Covid-19 virus,” Ashton said. “This was an unprecedented time in the history of the world and longshore workers stepped up and proved that we are here to support the people of Canada. It is unfortunate that our employers hold us in such contempt.”
On Monday, Ashton issued another press release imploring the BCMEA “to get back to the table to achieve a fair and reasonable agreement that the parties negotiate together.
The ILWU says it is “unrealistic to think that a collective agreement that is imposed will result in long term labour stability in the industry” and hopes the BCMEA “is not hiding behind the threat of back to work legislation and binding arbitration to avoid engaging in bargaining with the Union.
“We hope the BCMEA is not using its vast resources and connections to vilify the Union and scare the public with tales of economic disaster. We hope the Association can rise to the occasion and engage in meaningful talks with the Union and get a deal done.”
Also on Monday, the BCMEA issued a bulletin maintaining that ILWU Canada “has left no further avenues to reach a deal.
“Rather than work towards an equitable deal, ILWU Canada seems to have entrenched their positions. The BCMEA has gone as far as possible on core issues,” its bulletin states.
After the strike notice was issued the BCMEA posted a response on its website indicating that strike action “will not impact employees required to service grain vessels in accordance with Section 87.7 (1) of the Canada Labour Code.
“It is our intention that cruise vessels will also be serviced, and we communicated the same to federal mediators last week but are unclear at this moment whether the ILWU will provide service to that segment of the industry.”
In early June, after the ILWU’s membership voted 99.24 per cent in favour of striking, Huberman told the Now-Leader that since Surrey has the greatest number of manufacturers in B.C., a strike would “absolutely” impact the city’s economy.
tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com
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