The results of the vote by ILWU locals in Vancouver—North America's third-busiest port—and other British Columbia locals were announced November 19.

The agreement leaves unresolved the key issue of the dispute: the contracting out of work on the docks to nonunion companies. The new contract only provides for further talks on the issue.

On November 7, the B.C. Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA), which represents 71 port companies, locked out the 2,200 Longshoremen and 1,000 casuals after the ILWU refused to put the BCMEA's final offer to a membership vote. The employer's offer did not address the issue of contracting out. In 1998, Sultran, a Calgary-based company, had awarded a three-year contract to a nonunion firm to test the quality of sulfur shipments.

On November 20 Longshoremen at the BCMEA hiring hall in Vancouver expressed their opinion that nothing had been resolved around contracting out and that the deal was better than what they would have received under a contract imposed by the federal government after back-to-work legislation.

As they continue to resist the bosses' introduction of nonunion labor on the docks, the longshore workers face the threat of further legislation against their right to strike. Responding to pressure from companies in both the forest and mining industries, deputy prime minister Herb Gray said, "We intend to go further into this issue and make sure that this does not happen every year." Gray made his comments on November 15, shortly after the BCMEA had lifted its lockout in response to the ILWU leadership's decision to recommend an offer to the ILWU membership.

Preston Manning, leader of the federal Reform Party, a right-wing capitalist party, had earlier called for federal legislation that would "remove even the possibility of future lockouts and work stoppages."  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home