BY NED DMYTRYSHYN AND BRIAN HAUK
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - After one month off the job truckers here voted overwhelmingly August 21 to accept a contract from the bosses that includes an hourly rate for the first time. Truckers will get Can$46 (Can$1=US$0.67) to begin in one month. The rate will increase to Can$48 on June 1, 2000 and to $50 on March 1,2001.

During the first month there will be a bonus of Can$50 per trip and an additional Can$30 per trip drawn from a Can$250,000 fund paid by the terminal operators. The shutdown cost the industry Can$50 million and tied up 7,500 containers or 50 percent of the load

For several weeks some 450 independent owner/operator truckers had maintained information pickets, effectively tying up all container traffic in the Vancouver area. Vancouver Port Authority president Norman Stark, as quoted in the August 6 Vancouver Sun, said the protest by truckers had cost the transportation industry about Can$43.5 million. The Vancouver port is the largest in Canada.

"We're dealing with 28 companies that have been cutting corners by pushing us to speed up our `pulls' (deliveries) while cutting our rates," said trucker Ernie Dervalics while staffing the picket line.

"What we've done is basically withdrawn our services as independent owner-operators," added trucker Roy Vezina.

"We want one contract for all, an hourly negotiated rate, and we're not going back till we get this," declared Marcel Larouche. The truckers are either members of the Teamsters Local 31 or the Canadian Owner Operator Workers' Association Local 2001.

"With a flat rate that we get for a container - plus waiting for one, two, or more hours, plus often there is not enough qualified staff to service the containers or a ship is in port and we get bumped as priority - we're lucky to get $10 an hour after paying fuel, insurance, and other fees," he pointed out. "What it comes down to is that we're hauling more for less and this has got to stop.

"Another important thing is safety," Larouche added. "With the push by the employers to make money on our backs through lower round-trip rates and to do this faster, safety is compromised. There's great pressure to do things fast."

At the picket line, a member of International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union Local 500 dropped in before his shift to bring solidarity and explain that the longshoremen are "with you."

A mediator was appointed earlier in the dispute. His proposal to accept the employers' offer of Can$50 more per load was unanimously rejected by the truckers, as it did not include a switch to hourly wages from the per-delivery system. During the work stoppage, truckers noted that big- business press reporters had attended all of their meetings, but no pertinent information was published, and that they were extremely one-sided and against their fight.

Ned Dmytryshyn and Brian Hauk are members of the International Association of Machinists.  
 
 
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