~ March 15, 1995

SAY PAGO Copa Kem]

Hi Pee Wee year-end
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Thursday: Cloudy with sunny
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NEWS photo Riike Wakatiotd

STRIKING DOCK workers gather at the entrance to Vancouver Wharves to support B.C.'s foremen, who walked off the job after
two years of contract talks with the Waterfront Foremen Employers Association. Strikers did not want to be identified.

NORTH SHORE cargo handling termi-
nals were shut down Monday night
after longshore foremen around the
province walked off the job.

By lan Noble
News Reporter

The work stoppage has kindled unease in
focal terminal managers. who worry that the
strike may cost them business.

According to foremen’s union secretary trea-
surer Howard Smith, cargo shipments at North
Vancouver (terminals such as Vancouver
Wharves,  Fibreco, Seaboard Terminals,
Lynnterm and Neptune Terninals have been halt-
ed.

However, the Intemational Longshoremen’s
and) Warehousemen’s Union Local 5t4 0 has
allowed grain shipments to continue.

Hundreds of employees at the tenninals are
affected, ;

Union members went on strike after employ-
ers told foremen on. Monday afternoon that
employers would be implementing the terms and
conditions of conciliator Mark Thompson's Jan,
31 report.

That report, said Smith, favared employers,
who are represented by the Waterfront Foremen
Employers Association.

But. employers association president Grant
Mebs called the report a “reasonable compro-
mise.” ;

“The negotiation process had dragged out for

66 It is this kind of thing that

creates doubt in the shipper’s

mind about the reliability of -

the port system. 99

— Vancouver Wharves president
David Alsop

two years.” he said. “We said enough.”

Of the five outstanding issues, the pivotal one
concerns a demand by three terminals, including
Vancouver Whurves, to remove restrictions on
work practices so terminals can respond better to
customer needs, said Mebs.

Employers want to replace the restrictions
with 2 negotiation process. he said.

Employers also want to recruit Joremen from
outside the industry and pay foremen for four
hours work instead of the current eight when
ships don’t show up.

A union offer for binding arbitration on out-
standing issues was turned down by employers,
said Smith.

Approximately 185 B.C. foremen have been

Longshore foremen’s job action threat

ens port business
without a contract since Dec. 31, 1992. They
have been in a legal strike position since Feb. 18.
Foremen are currently paid an average of
$77,000 a yeur.

While dock workers man the picket line, man-
agers ponder what the strike will mean to port
business.

Some say a portion of it will go elsewhere.

Vancouver Wharves president David Alsop
said the longer the strike persists, the more likely
shippers are to look south of the berder for termi-
nal services,

“ttis this kind of thing that creates doubt in
the shipper’s mind about the reliability of the port
system,” he said.

‘The strike is the third Vancouver port work
stoppage since 1992.

Vancouver Wharves already faces the loss of
much of its potash traffic to the Port of Portland
in the next two years, when that port completes a
bulk loading terminal.

Mebs said that when completed, the Portland
facility will be able to move four million tonnes
of potash a year — the same amount Vancouver
terminals currently ship.

About one million tonnes will go to Portland
when the terminal is built, he said.

“T suspect they will be after a bunch more,” he
added.

Cargo is rerouted during a strike, but the busi-
ness does not always return when a strike ends,
Mebs said.

“No doubt” the current strike will affect local
terminals, but time will tell to what extent, he |