Update: As of 7am Pacific time on Tuesday, workers represented by the Grain Workers Union at the six main grain terminals in Vancouver are on strike.
Grain exports from Western Canada could face another major labour disruption starting Tuesday.
650 workers at the six main bulk grain terminals at the Port of Vancouver could legally walk off the job as soon as 7am on Tuesday, Sept. 24 after their union served 72-hour strike notice on Saturday, Sept. 21.
The Grain Workers Union Local 333, which is a member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU), represents operations staff at the Alliance Grain, Cargill, Cascadia (owned by Viterra and Richardson), G3, Pacific (Viterra), and Richardson International grain export terminals in Vancouver.
The employers are members of the Vancouver Terminal Elevators’ Association (VTEA.)
A five-year collective bargaining agreement between the union and the VTEA expired on December 31, 2023.
The union says its bargaining committee came to the decision to issue strike notice on Saturday after the VTEA “invested very little effort in negotiations last week.”
“The VTEA indicated it had no counter-proposal. Your union will not bargain against itself. It is the VTEA’s move,” the union said in a notice to members on Saturday.
The VTEA, meanwhile, says the union has rejected three offers since August, while presenting no counteroffers that address the employers’ concerns.
Talks between both sides broke off on Sept. 20, according to an update sent late Sept. 21 to grain industry stakeholders by Western Grain Elevator Association executive director, Wade Sobkowich.
“While the parties have made progress on direct wages, they remain far apart on the substantive benefit issues,” said Sobkowich, noting no new bargaining dates had been scheduled.
The loading of bulk grain shipments for export by stevedoring companies onto ships is deemed an essential service under the Canada Labour Code, so that will continue, but the essential designation does not apply to grain workers at terminals, so a strike would immediately shut down port elevator operations during the busy harvest grain shipping season.
“The VTEA chooses to remain optimistic that a collective agreement can be successfully reached in the short term, however, it requires an outcome that is fair and equitable for both sides,” said Sobkowich.
In a statement shared with RealAgriculture, federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon says he’s closely following the negotiations.
“We encourage parties to work with federal mediators, get a deal done and prevent a strike at these important West Coast grain elevators. Negotiated agreements are always the best way forward,” says MacKinnon.
Around 730 ship and dock forepersons in Vancouver who are members of another chapter of the longshoreman’s union could also go on strike in the coming weeks. Members of the ILWU Local 514 voted in favour of a strike mandate in August, but are awaiting a ruling from the Canada Industrial Relations Board on their labour impasse with the BC Maritime Employers Association, which represents 49 companies that operate in the port.
In July 2023, around 7,400 cargo workers at the Port of Vancouver who are also members of the ILWU went on strike for 13 days, disrupting nearly $10 billion in trade, according to the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade.
Barring a last minute deal, this latest port worker strike comes less than a month after both of Canada’s main railways — Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railway (CPKC) — were shutdown due to a dual labour stoppage that was ended when the federal government imposed final and binding arbitration.
Editor’s note: This article was updated with information from the Western Grain Elevator Association’s Sept. 21 update to grain industry stakeholders.
