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July 22, 1987
40°

Vol. 50, No. 28

Longshoremen challenge
container clause ruling

B.C.’s longshoremen are fighting a court _that it called for the scrapping of the “‘con- _ also seek a stay of proceedings to prevent
battle against a federal arbitrators’ ruling __ tainer clause” by Sept. 30. the arbitrators report from becoming law
that eliminates a 17-year old collective The International Longshoremen’s and on Sept. 30. Rage ze:
agreement Clause that protects more than Warehousemen’s Union Canadian Area Weiler’s ruling is the latest nail in the
one hundred union jobs on the waterfront. _ presider.t Don Garcia said the union has __ coffin for the integrity of collective agree-

Federal arbitrator Joseph Weiler’s report, launched a challenge to the’ruling in the ments for longshoremen in the Port of Van-
released last week, contained no surprisesin Federal Court of Appeals. The ILWU may _couver, run bya federal Crown corporation.
Last year Ottawa passed the Maintenance
of Port Operations Act, which ended a
lockout by port employers and imposed a
collective agreement on the longshoremen. |

The act, based on a report by federal
mediator Dalton Larson, “really screwed us
up,” Garcia commented.

It imposed a three year contract with a
zero-per cent increase in the first year, a
12-hour day on certain operations and no |
improvements in pensions. The question of
the container clause was handed to Weiler
for separate consideration and his report
was due at the end of June, 1987.

The ILWU president said the union is _
continuing its “no comment” position on
the rest of Weiler’s report. Included are "
recommendations that the B.C. Maritime 4

Employers Association pay into a special
fund for job training and guarantee hours of e |

work for five years.

Employers, who expressed jubilation
over Weiler’s ruling, have claimed that up to
86,000 containers per year bound for Can- dl
ada are diverted through the ports in Seattle = |
and Tacoma. :

They have traditionally blamed the con-
tainer clause, which stipulates that contain-
ers bound for more than one consignee
within a 90-mile radius of the port be
unpacked, or “‘de-stuffed” by union long-
shoremen at the docks. The clause also cov-
ers shipments out of the port applying the
same criteria.

But the clause, which protects a few jobs
enters Council president Bill Zander (c) is joined by Fishermen's Union member Bert Ogden and other in an industry decimated by the introduc-

WATERFRONT NEWS PHOTO — HOWIE SMITH

B.C. provincial Carp

: , i i f construction site at First Avenue and Renfrew Street. Some 75 tion of the large metal containers that can be
ed _ ee es nde pine SSE RB notorious anti-union contractor J.C. Kerkhoff, but by Caribou off-loaded from ships and placed directly on ||
Steal atte Be 3 > Building Trades unions to be a double-breasted version of the unionized steel firm, Can West. The firm trucks or rail cars for shipment to the final
lock see oe | . es last week when they refused to send reinforcing steel to Caribou, operating on the Skytrain bridge destination, is being used a scapegoat for
ieee: Lae ae River in New Westminster and Surrey. Members of the Ironworkers Union have been picketing both the Port of Vancouver’s failings, the union
Sites He she First and Renfrew project, developed by Costa Penn and Joe Fonero, has been targeted by the Concerned charges. :
Eiticens Coalition forits use of Kerkhoff. Safeway, the main tenant of the new plaza, is under boycott for rejecting requests In a campaign launched last fall the

union spotlighted the port’s lack of modern
facilities — compared to those in Tacoma
and Seattle — and the fact that decisions
affecting the port are made 3,000 miles
away in Ottawa.

The union also argued that USS.
ports — which are locally controlled —
will fight hard to retain the Canadian bound
traffic even if Vancouver’s container clause
is eliminated. They noted that it is cheaper

. for shippers to place both U.S. and Canada
destined items on the same ship and pay the
extra charges to truck the Canada-bound
goods across the border.

In their campaign the Longshoremen
also called for a “‘port users’ committee” of
federal and city government representa-
tives, shipping company and union officials,
and local businesses, to develop plans and
advise the port authority.

that the site be built by union tradespeople.

see ILWU page 2