The group of unions representing about 1,400 workers at Victoria Shipyards has received a 98 per cent strike mandate as it seeks a new contract.
“The wage offer is less than CPI [the consumer price index],” said Robert Taylor, bargaining agent for the group. Local 191 of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers negotiates contracts on behalf of 10 unions at the shipyard.
Canada’s consumer price index has been rising as citizens face increases in a range of areas including groceries and buying fuel.
Taylor is hoping the strike mandate will encourage the employer to return to bargaining. A mediator has not booked out.
The employer’s most recent offer was rejected on Feb. 28, he said.
Worker numbers can vary at the shipyard, which rents space at the federally owned Esquimalt Graving Dock in Esquimalt, depending on the number and scope of jobs. Taylor said that last year about 1,440 union members worked at the site.
Victoria Shipyards is part of North Vancouver-based Seaspan, which also owns Vancouver Shipyards, Vancouver Drydock and a fleet of ferries bringing cargo to Vancouver Island.
Workers at Victoria Shipyards build and repair vessels for the public and private sector, including Royal Canadian Navy ships, B.C. Ferries vessels and cruise ships.
The jobs carried out at the shipyard represent millions of dollars in expenditure for supplies and payroll costs, thus playing a major economic role in the capital region.
The company is proposing eliminating a second coffee break during a work day, Taylor said.
He’s against this because workers are often in cramped, tight spaces and need to give their bodies a break. They can be in areas where they are unable to sit or stand or get comfortable. Their arms and legs can fall asleep, he said.
Another issue is the employer’s proposal for what’s called a rolling work week, which would result in fewer days worked but longer hours, Taylor said.
Unions at the shipyard include electrical workers, pipe fitters, sheet-metal workers, labourers, carpenters, painters, machinists and iron workers.
The company said in a statement: “Seaspan’s Victoria Shipyards continues to bargain with the union toward a new collective agreement.”
Negotiations include the engagement of a mediator from the B.C. Labour Relations Board to work through remaining issues and reach a settlement, it said.
“We understand that the union membership has approved a strike mandate, and the union bargaining committee will provide a 72-hour notice prior to any strike activity. We have not yet received that notice.”
