New regs to toughen VanPort licence program

VANCOUVER — Drayage companies working the Port of Vancouver who complain that container truck licensing rules restrict free-market enterprise won’t like what’s next for the sector.

The federal Conservatives have published in the Canada Gazette Part I a proposal that takes the current licensing regulation at the ports of Vancouver and Fraser River a step further.

The proposal modifies existing regulations that require container carriers to acquire a licence from the port authorities in order to access the ports.

Specifically, the new rules would require non-unionized owner-operators, who are currently subject to the rates of remuneration under the “memorandum” licensing system, to be “compensated at the equivalent of any rate that has been established in a collective agreement that applies to unionized owner-operators.”

An amendment to the container licence scheme
pays non union truckers union rates.

The federal government says the new measures are necessary to preserve the stability of container trucking operations at the ports upon expiry of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) in early August 2007.

“As we have seen in the past, container trucking disruptions can have severe implications for Canadian trade. Clearly it is important that we move to ensure long-term stability for trucking operations at Lower Mainland ports,” said Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, in a press release.

The proposed regulations do not interfere with the rates that have been established by the trucking industry under collective bargaining. “Therefore,” says Ottawa, “the rates that have been negotiated within the (unionized) marketplace will continue to be in effect.”

In an exclusive interview with Today’s Trucking last year, Stu Shields, national representative of the Canadian Auto Workers, predicted a union-inspired system would be implemented in order to maintain long-term stability in the drayage sector.

At the time the CAW has signed up more than half of the independent container truckers that shut down their trucks for six weeks in the summer of 2005. The infamous disruption concluded with government mediator Vince Ready establishing the licensing scheme.

The proposed regulations were published on Tuesday, June 19, and are subject to a 30-day consultation period.