19 April 2004

Vancouver tug strike continues

The following article is excerpted from “The Journal of Commerce” edition of 19 April 2004.

No progress was made over the weekend to resolve a labor dispute that's slowed ship traffic along Canada's West Coast….

Phillip Nelson, spokesman for the employer group, said Sunday [18 April] that no talks were scheduled but that he's hopeful a federal conciliator will be appointed to resolve the dispute with the Canadian Merchant Service Guild….

Officials with the Canadian Merchant Service Guild, which represents 800 tug and barge operators, were not available for comment.

The strike, which began Friday, is affecting about 80 percent of ship docking, marine shipping and tug and barge services along the British Columbia coast.

Reports said operations at the Port of Vancouver's inner harbor … remained near normal over the weekend, largely because one tug company, Tiger Tugs, remained working. The company's work is covered by a separate contract.

Vancouver is struggling to clear thousands of containers stranded by rail delays prior to the tug strike.

There were service disruptions at the two Roberts Banks terminals and at the Fraser-Surrey docks, downriver from Vancouver, where deep-sea ship traffic was down by about 80 percent.

Negotiations with tug and barge employees began in June 2003. The union wants wage increases and benefits worth about 16 percent over three years. The council has offered about 13.75 percent.