Unifor Council 4000 meets with B.C. Container Trucking Commissioner
September 7, 2016
On Wednesday morning, August 31, 2016, Unifor National Council 4000 met with the Office of the British Columbia Container Trucking Commissioner; Commissioner Duncan MacPhail and Deputy Commissioner Michael Crawford. In attendance was Unifor Council 4000 President Barry Kennedy, Regional Representative Wesley Gajda, Unifor National Representative Bob Fitzgerald and new Local 4001 Unit Chairperson Patrick Spence, who represents our CNTL membership in the Greater Vancouver area.
The purpose of the meeting was to gain greater clarity of the various regulations and recent changes to the Truck Licensing System (TLS) program for container trucks accessing the Port of Vancouver, which includes CN Transportation Ltd. (CNTL) and our Unifor Council 4000/Local 4001 Owner-Operator membership.
“There are a variety of viewpoints among some of our members and CNTL as to the regulations pertaining to the TLS program, Truck Tags, Sponsorship Agreements, etc.”, says Council 4000 Regional Representative Wesley Gajda, who services the almost 900 Unifor CNTL members from Newfoundland and Labrador to Vancouver Island. “Our intent in requesting this meeting was to ensure all the parties are on the same page, particularly after the changes that were implemented on May 31st of this year,” says Gajda.
The TLS program requires all drayage companies and trucks draying marine containers to or from the port, which includes CNTL, to enter into an Access Agreement from the Port Authority prior to accessing any of the Port of Vancouver facilities. This applies to all parties draying, both local and long haul. The Province of British Columbia, holding responsibility and jurisdiction over all commercial trucking matters in the province, appointed the British Columbia Container Trucking Commissioner who currently issues and oversees all Lower Mainland container truck licenses to trucking companies, a minimum requirement to be eligible for an Access Agreement with the port authority. The Commissioner also sets minimum on and off dock compensation rates for truckers, manages the whistleblower Drayage ConfidenceLine and oversees the rate audit program to enforce rate remuneration regulations.
Stricter regulations began in 2005 following a nasty dispute and wildcat strike over long unpaid waits outside container terminals, low rates for transporting containers, spiraling operating costs, high fuel costs and constant undercutting by trucking brokers. Three-quarters of the truck drivers at that time were non-union owner-operators, each having separate contracts with at least 47 individual trucking companies or brokers. These brokers organized deals with customers to pick up or drop off containers at the ports and were used to compete against each other. Such undercutting caused much of the problems that lead to the wildcat strike in 2005, as there were no regulations governing the brokers' function. The most recent dispute involving container trucking and the Vancouver area ports occurred in 2014 (tap here to access the information page that was set up for our CNTL Vancouver membership at that time), which lead to much of today’s rules.
We informed the Commissioner’s Office that unlike many of the other truck drivers who work in and out of Vancouver area ports – Independent Operators (IO) – of which many may drive for different trucking companies or brokers, our CNTL membership are dependent on CNTL based on the contractual terms set out in our Standard Contracts. We work exclusively for CN’s subsidiary company, CNTL. All of the containers CNTL Owner-Operators handle in and out of Vancouver area ports is traffic that is marketed by CN for CN customers that is destined for loading onto a CN train to be shipped across North America via rail, or containers that came off rail and is destined for the ports. CNTL members are not involved in the shipments of containers of any other companies other than CN. But nonetheless, CN and CNTL fall under the same TLS regulations.
We addressed the fact that the TLS program, albeit that we understand and appreciate the requirement of such a program, causes us and many of our members’ problems in that it unfairly undermines the seniority provisions in our collective agreement. Particularly in cases where senior members (those with a greater seniority standing) are unable to access preferential work due to being unable to secure a License Sponsorship.
Who owns the truck tags in the CNTL fleet? Is it CNTL or the Owner-Operator?
According to the Commissioner’s office, neither!
Each trucking company (a Sponsor) has a set number of tags of which an Independent Operator (IO) who is sponsored is entitled to use. Tags may be transferred to another fleet with an IO who leaves one trucking company for another, or when terminated by a company. The total number of filled truck tags in the current fleets will not increase, which includes CNTL, and companies not currently participating in the TLS Program are not eligible to apply.
So what happens then if a CNTL Owner-Operator who is a TLS license holder leaves CNTL or is terminated by CNTL due to disciplinary consequences?
When an IO (in the case of our membership, a CNTL Owner-Operator) leaves a Sponsor (CNTL) or is terminated by CNTL, such members have 45 calendar days of leaving or date of termination to hire with an alternate Sponsor (another trucking company). If a member does not attain alternate Sponsorship with another company within 45 calendar days, then the original Truck Tag is automatically subject to re-allocation by the Office of the British Columbia Container Trucking Commissioner at their discretion. This means that there is no guarantee that CN or CNTL will be re-allocated with a former member’s tag. If the Commissioner does re-allocate a former member’s tag to CNTL, the Union will expect CNTL to communicate with us so that we ensure that any re-allocated Truck Tags be subsequently allocated to members in seniority order so as to respect the terms of our collective agreement. The Union (the office of Regional Representative Wesley Gajda) will also communicate with the Commissioner’s Office in cases where a member who has been terminated in excess of 45 days, and who is reinstated as a result of the Union succeeding at arbitration, to have that member’s Truck Tag reinstated to him or her.
In situations where a CNTL member is off sick, their Replacement Driver will, for the purposes of the TLS Program, be the Sponsored IO. In situations where a CNTL member is unable to secure a Replacement Driver for an unplanned absence of a medical nature or other extenuating circumstances, CNTL as the Sponsor may request that the Commissioner place the original Truck Tag in abeyance and issue a provisional Truck Tag to them (CNTL, or the Sponsor). In these situations, the Union will expect CNTL to communicate with us so that we ensure that any provisional Truck Tags that may be issued by the Commissioner will be allocated to members in seniority order so as to respect the terms of our collective agreement, particularly the provisions surrounding members’ seniority.
Effective January 1, 2016, any new truck requiring approval in the Truck Licensing System must be from the year 2010 or newer. Container trucks that are currently approved in the TLS program that are older than 2007 and reapplying for access, must provide an Age Exception Application.
Further review is being contemplated by the Commissioner’s office in the coming months, and they said they will take our concerns and suggestions into consideration before finalizing any necessary changes or improvements. We requested that Unifor Council 4000 be considered as a stakeholder in any consultations or meetings on improvements or amendments to the current TLS program that is under review, to which they agreed.
The Union also plans to hold discussions with senior representatives of CN and CNTL in the weeks ahead to discuss the TLS program and its impact on our CNTL Bargaining Unit. We will be informing CNTL that should they be in receipt of any additional truck tags in the coming months, we expect that sponsorship of these tags will be administered in seniority order, thus adherence to members’ seniority and the terms of our collective agreement.
For more information, please tap here to download a copy of the ‘Local TLS Program Application Handbook’.
Tap here to download, read and post the September 6, 2016 communique issued by Regional Representative Wesley Gajda
Related:
September 6, 2016 National Trucking Week
The purpose of the meeting was to gain greater clarity of the various regulations and recent changes to the Truck Licensing System (TLS) program for container trucks accessing the Port of Vancouver, which includes CN Transportation Ltd. (CNTL) and our Unifor Council 4000/Local 4001 Owner-Operator membership.
“There are a variety of viewpoints among some of our members and CNTL as to the regulations pertaining to the TLS program, Truck Tags, Sponsorship Agreements, etc.”, says Council 4000 Regional Representative Wesley Gajda, who services the almost 900 Unifor CNTL members from Newfoundland and Labrador to Vancouver Island. “Our intent in requesting this meeting was to ensure all the parties are on the same page, particularly after the changes that were implemented on May 31st of this year,” says Gajda.
The TLS program requires all drayage companies and trucks draying marine containers to or from the port, which includes CNTL, to enter into an Access Agreement from the Port Authority prior to accessing any of the Port of Vancouver facilities. This applies to all parties draying, both local and long haul. The Province of British Columbia, holding responsibility and jurisdiction over all commercial trucking matters in the province, appointed the British Columbia Container Trucking Commissioner who currently issues and oversees all Lower Mainland container truck licenses to trucking companies, a minimum requirement to be eligible for an Access Agreement with the port authority. The Commissioner also sets minimum on and off dock compensation rates for truckers, manages the whistleblower Drayage ConfidenceLine and oversees the rate audit program to enforce rate remuneration regulations.
Stricter regulations began in 2005 following a nasty dispute and wildcat strike over long unpaid waits outside container terminals, low rates for transporting containers, spiraling operating costs, high fuel costs and constant undercutting by trucking brokers. Three-quarters of the truck drivers at that time were non-union owner-operators, each having separate contracts with at least 47 individual trucking companies or brokers. These brokers organized deals with customers to pick up or drop off containers at the ports and were used to compete against each other. Such undercutting caused much of the problems that lead to the wildcat strike in 2005, as there were no regulations governing the brokers' function. The most recent dispute involving container trucking and the Vancouver area ports occurred in 2014 (tap here to access the information page that was set up for our CNTL Vancouver membership at that time), which lead to much of today’s rules.
We informed the Commissioner’s Office that unlike many of the other truck drivers who work in and out of Vancouver area ports – Independent Operators (IO) – of which many may drive for different trucking companies or brokers, our CNTL membership are dependent on CNTL based on the contractual terms set out in our Standard Contracts. We work exclusively for CN’s subsidiary company, CNTL. All of the containers CNTL Owner-Operators handle in and out of Vancouver area ports is traffic that is marketed by CN for CN customers that is destined for loading onto a CN train to be shipped across North America via rail, or containers that came off rail and is destined for the ports. CNTL members are not involved in the shipments of containers of any other companies other than CN. But nonetheless, CN and CNTL fall under the same TLS regulations.
We addressed the fact that the TLS program, albeit that we understand and appreciate the requirement of such a program, causes us and many of our members’ problems in that it unfairly undermines the seniority provisions in our collective agreement. Particularly in cases where senior members (those with a greater seniority standing) are unable to access preferential work due to being unable to secure a License Sponsorship.
Who owns the truck tags in the CNTL fleet? Is it CNTL or the Owner-Operator?
According to the Commissioner’s office, neither!
Each trucking company (a Sponsor) has a set number of tags of which an Independent Operator (IO) who is sponsored is entitled to use. Tags may be transferred to another fleet with an IO who leaves one trucking company for another, or when terminated by a company. The total number of filled truck tags in the current fleets will not increase, which includes CNTL, and companies not currently participating in the TLS Program are not eligible to apply.
So what happens then if a CNTL Owner-Operator who is a TLS license holder leaves CNTL or is terminated by CNTL due to disciplinary consequences?
When an IO (in the case of our membership, a CNTL Owner-Operator) leaves a Sponsor (CNTL) or is terminated by CNTL, such members have 45 calendar days of leaving or date of termination to hire with an alternate Sponsor (another trucking company). If a member does not attain alternate Sponsorship with another company within 45 calendar days, then the original Truck Tag is automatically subject to re-allocation by the Office of the British Columbia Container Trucking Commissioner at their discretion. This means that there is no guarantee that CN or CNTL will be re-allocated with a former member’s tag. If the Commissioner does re-allocate a former member’s tag to CNTL, the Union will expect CNTL to communicate with us so that we ensure that any re-allocated Truck Tags be subsequently allocated to members in seniority order so as to respect the terms of our collective agreement. The Union (the office of Regional Representative Wesley Gajda) will also communicate with the Commissioner’s Office in cases where a member who has been terminated in excess of 45 days, and who is reinstated as a result of the Union succeeding at arbitration, to have that member’s Truck Tag reinstated to him or her.
In situations where a CNTL member is off sick, their Replacement Driver will, for the purposes of the TLS Program, be the Sponsored IO. In situations where a CNTL member is unable to secure a Replacement Driver for an unplanned absence of a medical nature or other extenuating circumstances, CNTL as the Sponsor may request that the Commissioner place the original Truck Tag in abeyance and issue a provisional Truck Tag to them (CNTL, or the Sponsor). In these situations, the Union will expect CNTL to communicate with us so that we ensure that any provisional Truck Tags that may be issued by the Commissioner will be allocated to members in seniority order so as to respect the terms of our collective agreement, particularly the provisions surrounding members’ seniority.
Effective January 1, 2016, any new truck requiring approval in the Truck Licensing System must be from the year 2010 or newer. Container trucks that are currently approved in the TLS program that are older than 2007 and reapplying for access, must provide an Age Exception Application.
Further review is being contemplated by the Commissioner’s office in the coming months, and they said they will take our concerns and suggestions into consideration before finalizing any necessary changes or improvements. We requested that Unifor Council 4000 be considered as a stakeholder in any consultations or meetings on improvements or amendments to the current TLS program that is under review, to which they agreed.
The Union also plans to hold discussions with senior representatives of CN and CNTL in the weeks ahead to discuss the TLS program and its impact on our CNTL Bargaining Unit. We will be informing CNTL that should they be in receipt of any additional truck tags in the coming months, we expect that sponsorship of these tags will be administered in seniority order, thus adherence to members’ seniority and the terms of our collective agreement.
For more information, please tap here to download a copy of the ‘Local TLS Program Application Handbook’.
Tap here to download, read and post the September 6, 2016 communique issued by Regional Representative Wesley Gajda
Related:
September 6, 2016 National Trucking Week
