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Days after Unifor members at Port Transport went on the picket line, the 90 truck drivers working for Harbour Link Container Services have served 72 hours strike notice. If a deal cannot be reached, one of the sector’s largest employers will be behind picket lines on Monday morning at 6 a.m.
“It’s frustrating for our members that their employer refuses to live up to their responsibilities under legislation passed nearly a year ago,” said Gavin McGarrigle, Unifor’s BC Area Director, referring to sections of the Container Trucking Act that articulated new wage rates for truck drivers.
McGarrigle says that Unifor members at other container trucking companies have strike mandates and could easily be on picket lines soon if the employers don’t make a sincere attempt to bargain.
“Truck drivers have had an action plan signed by government since March 2014, but most of these trucking companies are in complete denial,” he said. “Our members are tired of waiting and we have little choice but to undertake job action.”
Container truckers shut down Port Metro Vancouver for nearly four weeks in March 2014 as a result of wage undercutting by trucking companies and long wait times at the Port. Truckers went back to work after a plan was signed with the truckers, the Port, the BC government, and the federal government.
