Monday, December 22, 2014

Port Metro Vancouver short haulers threaten strike over proposed pay rates

Proposed pay rates for Port Metro Vancouver container truck drivers put forth by the provincial government will not resolve issues of undercutting and low levels of compensation, according to groups that represent drivers.

Pay rates were of prime importance in the conflict in which 2,000 union and non-union port drivers walked off the job for 28 days in February and March of this year. The rate structure released by the Ministry of Transportation this week is aimed at "providing fair wages" for drivers based on the agreement that was negotiated at the end of March to end the dispute.

"This is not even 75 percent of what was agreed, if we just (look at) the rates," said Manny Dhillon, a spokesman for the United Truckers Association, a group that represents about 1,300 independent (non-union) truckers at the port.

The suggested structure provides minimum pay rates for all drivers, including minimum hourly wages of $26.28 for drivers employed by trucking companies, with rates set retroactively to April 3. The array of rates is complex since some drivers are paid flat per-container or per-trip rates and other drivers are paid by the hour.

Dhillon says the rates set for drivers who are employed by companies but paid on a per-trip basis, not by the hour, are lower than they are paid now and could result in them being paid less than hourly drivers if they can’t get more than four trips a day.

The per-trip rate in the rate structure is set at $40, but Dhillon said previously the per-trip rate was about $45.

"We need drivers to be hourly paid," Dhillon said. "Drivers were making more before (the dispute)."

For more of the Vancouver Sun story: www.vancouversun.com



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