Membership gives ILWU strong mandate for job action if required

With over 98 percent of the membership casting their votes in favour of strike action if required, the stage would seem to be set for the potential for some hot times on the waterfront up and down the BC Coast through the next two months.

As we outlined on the blog last week, members of the International Longshore Workers Union held strike votes last week, with the union leadership seeking a mandate from its members to call a strike if required, should negotiations between the ILWU and the BCMEA which represents management on the docks in the province, continue on at a glacial pace.

Results of the two day voting process were release on May 10th.

The workers on the docks in the province have been without a contract since last year, when the current agreement expired in March of 2018.

The most recent negotiations have been taking place with the assistance of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, there are further plans for talks to take place this moth between the negotiating teams from the ILWU and BCMEA.

The strong endorsement of a strike mandate, does not mean that any labour action is imminent; to bring about any walkout, the union would be required to provide 72 hour notice of any plans to bring work to a halt.

With the vote, the union now has sixty days to act on the approval of the membership to stop work should they feel that negotiations are not progressing as fast as they would like.

Some notes on the shift in negotiations can be explored below:

May 11 -- ILWU vote clears way for BC port workers strike 
May 9 -- British Columbia longshoremen to hold strike vote
May 8 -- BC longshoremen to take strike vote this week

More notes related to Labour issues on the North Coast can be explored here, while updates on Port related matters can be found from our archive pages here.

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