The December 14 agreement to appoint the arbitrator ended the five-month lockout of 650 workers, who are members of Local 333 of the Grain Workers Union (GWU). The company shut the gates on August 25 when the workers refused to accept concessions in work hours and recall rights.

In locking the workers out last year, the bosses took advantage of a slack period to push for concessions. Behind the decline in shipping flows at the time was a drought on the Prairies that cut into the usual wheat volumes to be shipped.

The company was helped every step of the way by the government and the courts.

During the dispute grain was shipped through the port of Prince Rupert. The 85 unionists there signed a four-year contract November 20 without the concessions that have been imposed in Vancouver.

In September unionists from Vancouver put up pickets at the Prince Rupert terminal to stop the flow of grain. Within two days the companies got an injunction to bar pickets.

The British Columbia Court of Appeal overturned this injunction and pickets went up again November 7. But the Canadian Industrial Relations Board declared the pickets an illegal strike, ruling that if the union members in Prince Rupert refused to cross the picket lines they would face fines of $1,000 a day. The union in Vancouver lifted the pickets after a few days.

In January the arbitrator, Vince Ready, ruled in the bosses’ favor on all major issues in dispute. The four-year contract will impose a six-day-on, three-day-off work schedule with 10-hour shifts. The union says this will eliminate 20 percent of the workforce.

Ready also eliminated the workers’ lifetime right of recall--another demand of the bosses in an industry where layoffs are common in the context of seasonal ups and downs. Effective January 1, 2005, employees with less than 10 years of service prior to layoff will retain recall rights for 12 months. Those with more than 10 years will retain recall rights for twice that period.

Many will lose their recall rights because of the long layoffs in this industry. GWU members report that only a few workers have been called back to the job, as grain continues to move through Prince Rupert .

Joe Young is a meat packer in Langley, British Columbia.  
 
 
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