Vancouver: Harmen Shergill, spokesperson
for United Truckers’ Association that is
representing the non-unionized has informed
Asian Journal that UTA members have rejected
the proposal in a meeting held at Grand Taj,
Surrey on Mar 8. He said there were close to 1000
Truckers– Union and Non Union– who attended
the vote meeting.
Port mediator, Vince had asked the truckers
to go back to work while Port reviews their
demands. Now, both Unifor-VCTA and UTA
have conveyed their decision to strike unless Port
comes to table with some action plan in good
faith.
Harmen said, “UTA has been trying to resolve
this issue without strike. But we were not heard.
We have been lobbying for past 5-6 months. We
had positive meetings with Port Metro Vancouver
in past; we were assured of resolution but no
action was taken by the Port despite assurances.
It seems they were not serious about solving the
matters that cause concern to truckers. Today, we
have conveyed members’ decision to Vince Ready
that nobody is going get off picket line useless the
matter is resolved.”
When asked about MP Jasbir Sandhu’s role,
Harmen said, “Jasbir Sandhu has been very
supportive. We have been lobbying for almost
half an year and Jasbir Sandhu has made effort to
get Ottawa’s attention toward us.”
MP Jasbir Sandhu has released a statement last
week where he said, “This port is crucial for the
flow of goods in and out of BC and could affect
the entire country. Truckers and the Port must
resolve this dispute.”
Harmen added, ” This strike is not just about
money, it’s about respect for the work we do.
Truckers move British Columbia’s or that matter
country’s economy. We play an important role
and its time we are respected for that and paid
accordingly.
He also said, ” There is proposal to fix an hourly
rate for the Truckers, this will reduce undercutting
and bring uniformity to the industry.”
Chronology:
Vince Ready was appointed as negotiator
between Port Metro Vancouver and Truckers on
Mar 6 by Federal Transport Minister Lisa Raitt
Unifor- VCTA had given a 72 hour notice, which
ended on Thursday noon. The members of UTA
were already off the work from Feb 25.
UTA is a first registered body, a Non profit that has
been taking the problems faced by Non-union truckers to
the Port, Local politicians. It has approximately 1400
members. UTA has its own constitution and by laws that
govern its members.
