Vancouver British Columbia - The International Longshore and Warehouse Union's (ILWU) Canadian division this week issued a strike notice effective 1 Jul 2023 after months of negotiations with the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA).
 
More than 99 percent of union members voted to strike during a vote held earlier this month.
 
Negotiations have been ongoing since February 2023, the previous contract expired 31 Mar 2023.
 
BCMEA represents 49 ship owners and agents, stevedores, and container/breakbulk terminal operators primarily based at the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert.
 
ILWU Canada represents more than 7,200 workers.
 
CPKC, CN, and BNSF serve the ports.
 
Earlier, this week, CPKC issued a customer advisory that warned clients port operations could be impacted.
 
"At this time, we do not anticipate any significant service interruptions to result from this work stoppage, and as such, CPKC has not initiated embargoes related to a potential service interruption, but we are closely monitoring developments to evaluate any impact to shipments on CPKC's network," railroad officials said in the advisory.
 
The Railway Association of Canada has asked top government officials to step in, including Canadian Minister of Labor and Member of Parliament Seamus O'Regan Jr.
 
"Canada's railways have asked O'Regan to use every tool at his disposal to prevent any work stoppage and avoid the economic harm such a stoppage would cause," RAC tweeted.
 
Author unknown.