Green spoke to Militant reporters at a union-organized picket line outside grain elevators at the Port of Vancouver. He is one of several hundred workers locked out at midnight on August 25 by the bosses’ outfit, the British Columbia Terminal Operators Association.

The picket lines were organized by Local 333 of the Grain Workers Union, which covers the 600 locked-out workers. More than 200 of them were laid off earlier this year as shipments slowed through the port--which handles 70 percent of Canada’s grain exports--partly under the impact of the current drought in crop-growing areas. The lockout has also deprived some dockworkers and truck drivers of work.

According to a spokesman for Agricore, the company that operates the United Grain Growers terminal at the port, shipments this crop year could fall as low as 7 million metric tons, down from 10 million in 2001. He added that before the current drought cut crop yields, as much as 16 million tons moved through the port.

The grain handlers have been without a contract since January 1 of last year. Four days after the lockout 400 union members unanimously rejected the most recent contract offer by the employers association, tabled on August 22. Workers cited threatened job cuts as a key factor in their "no" vote. The terminal operators’ proposal would allow them to schedule six days of 10-hour shifts, followed by three days off--a move that could eliminate the jobs of 20 percent of the union’s membership. The bosses also want to slash lifetime recall rights down to two years.

Before the meeting union president Robert MacPherson explained, "Basically they are asking us to vote to lose our jobs. Nobody’s going to do that." Later he put the onus on the companies for the fact that grain was not moving. "We’re prepared to go back to work if the companies remove the lockout," he said. "We’ll resume work and we’ll resume negotiations."

The media coverage has suggested that the grain handlers "no" vote and not the lockout is a blow to Prairie farmers. A headline in the August 28 Vancouver Sun stated, "City grain handlers dispute adds to farm woes. Millions of dollars of worth of grain is behind picket lines."

At a union-organized press conference September 2, Shannon Storey, the women’s president of the 8,000-member National Farmers Union, expressed a different point of view. "Farmers are not being hurt by workers asking for a fair deal," she said. "Farmers are being hurt because employers, who are making as much money out of us as they possibly can, don’t feel obliged to pass a fair portion back to workers."

On September 3 the Canadian Wheat Board started moving grain through the Port of Prince Rupert, located far north of Vancouver. The same companies comprising the Terminal Operators’ Association in Vancouver are shareholders in Prince Rupert Grain Ltd.

Around 100 Prince Rupert workers are also members of the Grain Workers Union. Like the locked-out Vancouver workers, they have been working without a contract.

On September 9, grain handlers from Vancouver set up picket lines at the Prince Rupert grain elevators. "The strategy is to try to bring the employer back to the bargaining table," said Local 333 secretary treasurer Ron Burton. To accomplish that, he added, "we have to shut down the flow of grain on the West Coast." Two days later a judge granted the bosses an injunction that barred the picketing.

Joe Young is a meat packer in the Vancouver area. Beverly Bernardo contributed to this article.  
 
 
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