Members of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU) halted their 13-day strike on July 13, but walked off the job again starting on Tuesday afternoon, for 24 hours.
When that was ruled illegal because the union failed to provide 72-hour notice, the union filed notice that it would resume the strike Sunday.
Now the union has cancelled that notice and has instead filed an appeal against the ruling of the Canadian Labour Board that Tuesday’s strike was illegal.
About 6,000 of the ILWU’s members are in the Vancouver region, 1,000 in the Prince Rupert area and the rest on Vancouver Island.
They are members of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU) union.
On Tuesday, the ILWU’s caucus that includes representatives of locals rejected the tentative four-year pact that had been approved on July 13 by the union’s bargaining unit.
“The ILWU has followed Canadian labour law which holds that a strike continues from the moment of job action until the ratification of a collective agreement,” the union president said.
The Globe and Mail, citing confidential sources, said the tentative four-year deal provides for wage hikes of five per cent in each of the first two years, followed by increases of four per cent in each of the final two years.
That is a total of 18 per cent nominally, and works out to a compounded wage hike of 19.2 per cent over four years.
