Unifor-VCTA to hold membership meeting March 8 on upcoming plans - Unifor Council 4000 to provide info on our plans afterwards
Marrch 7, 2014
Unifor-Vancouver Container Truckers’ Association (VCTA) are holding a special membership meeting on Saturday, March 8, 2014 to discuss plans going forward in regard to the ongoing dispute with truck drivers and Port Metro Vancouver.
Reports from our Unifor Council 4000/Local 4001 membership who are Owner Operator truck drivers for CN Transportation Ltd. (CNTL), say there have been incidents of rocks being thrown at passing trucks on public roadways away from the ports, trucks being pursued by people in cars surrounding the trucks and intimidating drivers, and threats being made to drivers away from their workplaces.
Media reports have said that Port Metro Vancouver is expected to suspend dozens of permits amid reports of threats, violence and intimidation in what is an escalating labour dispute that could widen over the weekend.
Despite the fact that our CNTL membership have a current collective agreement that expires at the end of 2014 and recognize they have a legal obligation to provide trucking services at the ports in Metro Vancouver, they are very concerned by the ongoing threats and potential damage to their trucks by being dispatched to the Vancouver ports.
As Unifor Council 4000 Regional Representative Wesley Gajda and President Barry Kennedy said in a communique to our membership last week, Council 4000, which represents 4,500 Unifor members across all 10 Canadian provinces including 800 CNTL Owner Operators, supports the Unifor-VCTA membership and will respect any picket lines at any of the ports should there be strike action in the coming days.
Unifor Council 4000 President Barry Kennedy, Regional Representative Wesley Gajda and Unifor National Representative Bob Fitzgerald held a conference call with CNTL yesterday to explain our concerns. However, CNTL is standing by their earlier communique issued on March 3rd - read it here (PDF).
Based on the continued concerns that we have for our CNTL membership in this regard, we have scheduled a conference call early Saturday morning with senior leaders of CN to express our concerns and advise CN and CNTL of our plans going forward and in consideration of what is transpiring with the Unifor-VCTA membership and the ongoing labour stoppage of United Truckers Association (UTA) drivers in the Lower Mainland.
We will issue a communique to our membership immediately following this important conference call to inform our CNTL membership of our Union's plans in the days ahead.
Please keep checking back to our Updates page at: http://www.unifor4000.com/14mar01014cntl-metro-vancouver-ports.html, for information as it becomes available.
Reports from our Unifor Council 4000/Local 4001 membership who are Owner Operator truck drivers for CN Transportation Ltd. (CNTL), say there have been incidents of rocks being thrown at passing trucks on public roadways away from the ports, trucks being pursued by people in cars surrounding the trucks and intimidating drivers, and threats being made to drivers away from their workplaces.
Media reports have said that Port Metro Vancouver is expected to suspend dozens of permits amid reports of threats, violence and intimidation in what is an escalating labour dispute that could widen over the weekend.
Despite the fact that our CNTL membership have a current collective agreement that expires at the end of 2014 and recognize they have a legal obligation to provide trucking services at the ports in Metro Vancouver, they are very concerned by the ongoing threats and potential damage to their trucks by being dispatched to the Vancouver ports.
As Unifor Council 4000 Regional Representative Wesley Gajda and President Barry Kennedy said in a communique to our membership last week, Council 4000, which represents 4,500 Unifor members across all 10 Canadian provinces including 800 CNTL Owner Operators, supports the Unifor-VCTA membership and will respect any picket lines at any of the ports should there be strike action in the coming days.
Unifor Council 4000 President Barry Kennedy, Regional Representative Wesley Gajda and Unifor National Representative Bob Fitzgerald held a conference call with CNTL yesterday to explain our concerns. However, CNTL is standing by their earlier communique issued on March 3rd - read it here (PDF).
Based on the continued concerns that we have for our CNTL membership in this regard, we have scheduled a conference call early Saturday morning with senior leaders of CN to express our concerns and advise CN and CNTL of our plans going forward and in consideration of what is transpiring with the Unifor-VCTA membership and the ongoing labour stoppage of United Truckers Association (UTA) drivers in the Lower Mainland.
We will issue a communique to our membership immediately following this important conference call to inform our CNTL membership of our Union's plans in the days ahead.
Please keep checking back to our Updates page at: http://www.unifor4000.com/14mar01014cntl-metro-vancouver-ports.html, for information as it becomes available.
