CIFFA 2024 Fall Forwarder

19 THE FORWARDER | FALL 2024 In April 2024 shippers were warned that the ports might again experience a strike – this time because the Dock Foremen had declined to accept the key terms of the agreement that ended the Longshoremen’s strike the year before. These serial threats are a source of great frustration and perhaps create an even greater perception of unreliability than the West Coast ports actually deserve. It’s been a long time since we had a serious review. In 1995 the Jamieson Greyell commission provided an extensive review of the issues of the day – which resemble the issues of today. It’s unfortunate that so little was enacted at that time. 1. Impacts on CIFFA members? Our membership includes a wide range of participants in the supply chain and impacts vary significantly. Freight forwarders take possession of goods on behalf of exporters or importers and manage their transportation, selecting the most appropriate and cost-effective options. When there is a major disruption in one facility, they may have the ability to re-route traffic, although the cost may be much greater and delays can be expected. However, our membership also includes businesses with a direct role in operations, such as drayage truckers and warehouse workers whose income disappears when operations are halted. 2. Alternative resolution mechanisms The BC Employers have offered a brief on key issues in the administration of labour negotiations. We found the brief useful and would like to discuss several measures it reviews. Geographic designation An efficiency which characterizes Canada’s East Coast ports is the “geographic certification” which applies to all employees in a bargaining unit. The designation pulls disparate groups into a single negotiation. Given the frustration experienced in 2024 when the foremen threatened strike action on the same issues negotiated – painfully – by the longshoremen the previous year, this may be a measure the Minister of Labour would find useful. Binding arbitration Binding arbitration is offered as an alternative to damaging strikes – without somehow denying either party their legitimate power in the negotiation process. A model which included arbitration after it became clear the parties were not close to settlement would elevate the rights of the third party; the customers and citizens relying on goods or services which are now imperiled. Designed correctly such a system can be both fair to each side and substantially more efficient than a protracted strike. Essential service designation It does appear that a designation of “essential service” would be inappropriate in the case of port facilities. The supply chain is just that – a chain. In order to maintain services all the players in the chain would have to be designated essential, which would effectively remove the right to strike for a wide range of participants. Although ports are economically critical, it is hard to argue that their services are essential to respond to immediate threats to public safety or health. For these reasons CIFFA does not advocate for an essential services designation for port workers. 3. Other issues Too many players in each negotiation? CIFFA remains baffled as to why ports as different economically and geographically distant as those on the West Coast should negotiate together. In the East ports such as Saint John and Halifax (just 420 kilometers apart) are independent of each other, as are Montreal and Hamilton (only 600 kilometers apart.) Yet Vancouver negotiates with Prince Rupert, the two facilities nearly a thousand kilometers apart. In addition to distance, the communities are sharply different in the economics which drive labour negotiations. Vancouver is the 26th most expensive city in the world in which to live. The average salary (merging skilled and unskilled workers) in Vancouver is $70,000. The average salary in Prince Rupert is $59,000. The job opportunities available in Vancouver are plentiful, those in Prince Rupert much more restricted. It’s no wonder that agreements which are acceptable to the smaller ports are repeatedly blocked by the Vancouver bargaining unit and we see no likelihood that this will change in the future. Would the segregation of negotiating units weaken labour’s leverage? Perhaps not very much, given the different cargo profiles and physical distances involved. Planning for Automation An issue which has nothing to do with the processes of labour negotiation is likely to be the most intractable item of dispute in the coming years: automation. We urge the Commission to address the issue, and to advocate for policies which mitigate the stress it will cause among workers. More than 50 terminals around the world have some degree of automation, often automated cranes. Workers, having seen what automation has done to employment in industries such as lumber mills and auto manufacturing, are understandably aggressive in wanting to block adaptation in Canada’s ports. But Canada is, nationally, sliding drastically in measures of competitiveness. And the Port of Vancouver was identified by the World Bank in 2022 as one of the world’s least efficient. CIFFA is not an “automation booster.” We seek the most efficient facility possible; we are neutral as to how this is created. There are operational arguments for human management and against wholesale automation. But as we note the trend across the world, we cannot ignore it. Canada is a trading nation, signatory to 15 Free Trade agreements, including with the United States, Europe and the ASEAN. As our trading partners/competitors automate, we will be under pressure to do the same. This will be a serious item of dispute – perhaps the most important item – in the coming years. It featured heavily in the ILWU’s public statements last summer, when the union noted that more than 500 jobs had been replaced in the California ports of Long Beach and Las Angeles. The government of Canada, recognizing both the trend and the pressure for competitiveness, should undertake to develop policies and programs to alleviate some of the stress this issue represents for port workers.