A Fiery Trucking Protest - Whose Side Are You On? Posted by DC Cargo Mall on March 06, 2014

The port in Vancouver is confiscating trucker’s permits due to the resort to threats and violence in a combat about labor. 

The Port as well as the Trucking Association representing trucking companies are adamant to elicit a solution for the truckers who have quit working in anger, and resorted to protesting. The protesting included so much as one trucker tossing a heavy rock through the front window of another trucker’struck, who going at 70 mph was lucky to have survived the incident. Cutting break lines was another tactic used by these quitting truckers in the hopes of physically and verbally intimidating fellow truckers that refused to join the strike and opted to continue on working.

A BCTA Representative is disheartened with all the verbal intimidation thrown at the truckers who stuck to their posts. He’s revved up about the drivers that are being stopped and surrounded by people and cars attempting to convince the driver to stop work and join the protest. The working truckers have even received intimidating phone calls from home, warning them to quit.

Upwards of 20 permits of protesters have already been suspended with 20 more expected to be. The permits were not permanently terminated though until after a two weeks’ notice and a chance at disputing the claim with valid-deemed reasoning, which in such a case could allow for reconsideration.

So what were these protesting truckers so harried over?  Their main complaint was in regard to the hours of waiting at the port between loads. Most container truckers get paid by the load (some because they are doing the loading themselves, and buying quality securement items from their own pockets) as opposed to by the time. For them waiting long meant less time for loads and less money. The VCTA – (the Vancouver Container Trucker’s Association) which is part of Unifor (the country’s largest private sector union) has joined the strike. 

Unifor’s area director, Gavin McGarrigle, asserts that the VCTA/uniform represents around 400 members. The BCTA disputed this count stating that VCTA’s membership ran up at closer to 250 members. The UTA counter argues this as well, claiming that approximately 1000 members including employee drivers and owner operators would be a more accurate summation. The BCTA still refutes the cause and valid reasoning for protest with that argument that some drivers that in fact are paid by the hour. But the UTA challenges that these truckers are suffering though regardless – due to the same overhead costs.

The BCTA instituted an 8 point plan in the hopes of halting the protest and urging them back to work. Their strategy includes extending gate hours at terminals and introducing a rate-auditing system. A Ms. Yako has stated that the plan was developed by BCTA members who are trucking companies and therefore can empathize with the concerns of drivers. The Port Metro Vancouver also agreed to it in principle.

But this didn’t pacify the protesting drivers. ‘The plan had no input from us, the actual individual drivers!’ 

A spokesperson for the UTA criticized further that ‘They don’t care about the fact that drivers are losing their trucks, homes, and the money in their pockets.’

Mr. Xotta pointed out that truck activity has declined 20% since this protest, and with the stakes worsening each day, causing a long term reputational risk with customers. The port authority says that this is exponential because about $855 million worth of cargo is locally exported / imported via truck weekly. 

Meanwhile, the port will be lifting a moratorium on full-service operator licenses that was put into place two weeks prior to enable trucking companies to add trucks to their fleets to combat the fact that their fleets were affected by permit suspensions.