ILWU Ship & Dock Foremen Local 514 (ILWU Local 514) on Saturday provided formal 72-hour notice of intended strike action against DP World (Canada) Inc. to commence on July 8.
Later on Saturday, the BC Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) requested urgent interim intervention by the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB). Specifically, it asked the Board to declare proposals and strike action of ILWU Local 514 contrary to the Canada Labour Code.
CIRB met on Sunday to address this request. It determined that ILWU Local 514’s declaration of strike action against DP World (Canada) Inc. is in contravention of the Code. CIRB found that the union failed to bargain in good faith when it conducted a strike vote amongst employees of only one member employer of the BCMEA and issued a strike notice based on that strike vote. Accordingly, CIRB directed the union to rescind the strike notice of July 5 and advise members that it is rescinded.
Furthermore, CIRB found that the union’s Nanaimo dispatch proposal was illegal because it consists of a receding horizon in bargaining and amounts to a failure to bargain in good faith. Therefore, the Board directed the union to withdraw its proposal.
Read more in BCMEA’s bargaining updates.