Deal Reached to End Vancouver Port Trucker Strike
Truckers at Port Metro Vancouver reached a deal to end a strike that began March 10, the Vancouver Sun reported.
As part of the deal the Canadian government agreed to increase trip rates for truckers by 12% over 2006 rates for all container moves, whether the moves are full or empty.
The government also agreed to regulate a minimum rate for hourly drivers, expected to be C$25.13 for new hires and C$26.28 for drivers with one year of service, the paper reported.
There also will be a new escalating fee arrangement for wait times at the port. After 90 minutes of waiting, owner-operators will be paid C$50, after two hours the fee increases another C$25, and after two-and-a-half hours another C$25 and every half-hour after that they’ll receive C$20, according to the Sun.
The deal also withdraws back-to-work legislation that included penalties of up to $400 per day for workers and $10,000 per day for the union.
“There are financial wins in the plan for truckers,” Port CEO Robin Silvester said in the statement. “It is in all of our best interests that truckers come out of this dispute with their issues resolved, because disruptions like this hurt each of us.”
Drivers who had their licenses suspended during the strike but who were not criminally charged will get back their papers.
