ILWU Local 400, which represents deckhands and cooks on Seaspan tugs, has called a strike vote for its 350 members Tuesday over what it is calling a unilateral imposition by the company of big changes to its now expired contract. As well, the western branch of the Canadian Merchant Service Guild, representing tug captains and engineers at Seaspan, has called its own corresponding strike vote for Wednesday over the same issue.
“Seaspan tugs do the vast majority of work on the waterfront in Vancouver, Delta, Victoria and other ports in B.C.,” said Terry Engler, president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 400 in a news release. “And that tugboat fleet will be tied up as Seaspan insists on an unnecessary confrontational approach that we have never seen here before now.”
Engler said the contract expired last Sept. 30, and the legal advice they’ve received is that they need to take job action before Seaspan makes unilateral changes.