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VANCOUVER—A copy of the agreement reached between Port Metro Vancouver, the federal and provincial governments, and container truck drivers is available online at unifor.org/truckeragreement
Container truck drivers showed considerable resolve and solidarity during the work stoppage, making the following negotiated gains possible:
Hourly rate: An unprecedented minimum benchmark hourly wage that is initially anticipated to be set at $25.13 on hire and $26.28 after one year of service. Approximately 54% of the workforce is hourly drivers whereas the original plan was silent for these workers. The federal regulation will be changed to operationalize this new benchmark.
Fuel reimbursement: A change to the current formula that will result in the doubling of the rate from 7% to 14%. Although it was required, many non-union drivers did not receive a reimbursement.
Container rates: Rates to increase from the 2006 “Ready rates” by 12% (up from original offer of 10%). The rate will be paid on all containers, whether full or empty and paid on a round trip basis. A mechanism will be established to ensure that off-dock rates will also be consistent with these revised rates.
Waiting time reimbursement: The original 14-point plan provided a $25 flat reimbursement after two hours of waiting. The final negotiated agreement pays $50 after 90 minutes, $75 after two hours, $100 after 2.5 hours, and then increases by $20 for every 30 minutes after that.
Line-up measurements: Waiting time checkpoints will be measured farther back than before, to where line-ups actually begin.
Undercutting: All companies will be audited and "penalties for rate violators shall be severe and shall include cancellation of licenses for companies and individual drivers.” Auditing will now cover off-dock movements.
Sectoral review: Instead of just doing a review and issuing a report, Vince Ready will now be "seized to issue recommendations on all points in the plan that will be reviewed, finalized, and acted upon" within 90 days.
Although the final agreement used the government’s 14-point plan as the starting point, ground-breaking sectoral gains were made during the negotiation process.
Unifor was founded Labour Day weekend 2013 when the Canadian Auto Workers and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers unions merged. With more than 300,000 members, Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector.
