Hundreds of transport trucks wound their way along Knight Street in Vancouver Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015 in protest as part of an ongoing labour dispute with the Port Metro Vancouver.
Trucker Jurjit Dulay was protesting Wednesday because he’s out of work — along with about 600 other drivers, as well as mechanics and staff, of the companies that didn’t qualify to work at Port Metro Vancouver under a new licensing deal that takes effect Feb. 1.
The names of the companies that qualify under the Truck Licensing System were only released Friday. Just 68 firms were approved instead of the previous 200 and only 1,450 ‘tags’ for trucks were granted, surprising the about 600 drivers that are going to be looking for work outside the port.
The new licensing criteria came out of a trucking strike in February and March last year that left about $3-billion worth of goods sitting on the docks.