Stop press: BCMEA and ILWU Local 514 reach agreement on new four-year deal
Two years after the previous contract between the two sides expired, Canada’s West Coast ports have some assurances that their longshore workforce will stay on the job for another two years
From the reasons-to-be-cheerful file: It only took two years, but the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Ship & Dock Foremen Local 514 have ratified a new four-year deal.
Details of the contract were not available at this writing, but the four-year deal that followed the 13-day strike by Local 514’s ILWU Canada parent in 2023 included wage increases of 19.2%. That increased the annual median union longshore wage to $162,000 from $136,000, not including benefits and pension. The contract also provided a $3,000 signing bonus for each full-time worker.
But money was only one bone of contention in BCMEA-ILWU contract negotiations. Automation was another, and more contentious and complicated issue facing both sides of the bargaining table.
Details of how that has been resolved or set aside for a future battle on the waterfront have yet to be released.
Stay tuned for updates.
In the meantime, the BCMEA-Local 514 contract settlement heads off, at least for now, the potential for more destructive container terminal shutdowns along Canada’s West Coast.
The ILWU’s 13-day strike in 2023, as you might recall, disrupted an estimated $11 billion in cargo and raised more red flags internationally over B.C.’s reputation for maritime cargo movement reliability.
Tempering the good news provided by the BCMEA-Local 514 contract agreement is the fact that, because it has taken two years to negotiate, the four-year deal is already halfway done.
So, we have a reprieve from more bare-knuckle ILWU-BCMEA bouts in the labour-relations octagon, but only for another two years.
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