New rule guarantees rates for Vancouver box ...

June 22, 2007

22 June 2007

New rule guarantees rates for Vancouver box truckers

The following is excerpted from the 22 June 2007 edition of “Journal of Commerce”.

The Canadian government is moving to guarantee pay rates for container truckers at the Port of Vancouver in a bid to stabilize the workforce by eliminating rate-cutting for independent owner-operator drivers.

Transport Canada announced … a new regulation that will require non-unionized owner-operator truckers be paid rates as high as those won by unionized owner-operators in a collective bargaining agreement…

The regulation is intended to block protests like the four-week strike by container truckers at Vancouver in 2005 that cost the regional economy tens of millions of dollars.

… A port licensing system sets drivers' pay according to a memorandum of agreement that ended the 2005 strike. The new rule is intended to replace the agreement, which expires in August, 2008.

… Under the new rule, companies failing to pay non-union employees rates equivalent to those won in a collective agreement can be fined up to $50,000.


Topic(s): 
Canadian Economy & Politics
Information Source: 
Canadian News Channel
Document Type: 
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