Cargo Business Newswire

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Port Metro Vancouver trucker strike starts to affect customers

Heading into its second week, the trucker walk out and strike at Port Metro Vancouver is starting to impact the business operations of its customers.

Over 1,000 non-union truck drivers stopped serving the port on Feb. 26, and on Monday approximately 300 union drivers represented by Unifor joined them in a strike action, to protest lengthy waiting times at terminals and undercutting of rates.

One company, distiller Odd Society Spirits, is awaiting brewing equipment that is stuck behind the gate due to the Port Metro Vancouver truck drivers dispute. While waiting for delivery, the company is being charged storage fees — $1,700 as of Tuesday, with fees at $350 per day — as long as the container sits on the dock.

"We find it interesting," said Miriam Karp, Odd Society's general manager. "We're caught in this crossfire" between the truck drivers and their employers, but "the people with goods there feel the effects of it immediately."

Greg Wilson, director of government relations for the Retail Council of Canada's Western Canada office, said the dispute between trucking companies and their drivers is in under the auspices of provincial Jobs Tourism and Skills Training Minister Shirley Bond, who is also the minister responsible for labor. So he and other retail members met with her representatives last week and on Tuesday they met with federal officials at Transport Canada.

"We're urging the governments to get the parties to the table and talk," Wilson added.

Trucking operations at Port Metro Vancouver are down to about 10 to 20 percent of typical levels, according to Peter Xotta, vice-president of planning and operations at the port. He said some long-haul trucks are still making deliveries along with the few trucking companies that are not affiliated with the striking union or non-union United Truckers Association.

For more of the Vancouver Sun story: vancouversun.com