Update: The British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) which represents 49 of B.C.’s private sector waterfront employers and operators said it would lockout forepersons and other Local 514 members on November 4, commencing on the 16:30 shift and continuing until further notice. This lockout will not apply to grain or cruise operations.

The association said ILWU Local 514’s strike action has already begun to impact B.C.’s waterfront operations, and strike activity can easily escalate, including a complete withdrawal of labour without notice.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Ship & Dock Foremen Local 514 (ILWU Local 514) had issued a 72-hour strike notice for 8 a.m. Pacific time.

The employers association said over the weekend it had presented what it’s termed its final offer to ILWU Local 514’s leadership in hopes of averting a looming work stoppage.

The offer, which is dated Wednesday and addressed to International Longshore and Warehouse Union Ship & Dock Foremen Local 514 (ILWU Local 514), was released to reporters last week.

The negotiations between the two parties have been ongoing for nearly two years.

BCMEA says now that the offer remains open until withdrawn despite ILWU Local 514’s “regrettable decision to destabilize Canada’s supply chain.”

It also warns that a strike may start as an overtime ban and be escalated in minutes, hours or days – to full-scale strike action without notice, where all workers walk off the job.

This potential creates tremendous uncertainty, BCMEA said, and significant operational and safety challenges for operators.

In response, Local 514 president Frank Morena said in a union release that workers had only planned to “engage in limited job action” with an overtime ban, and it was the employers who “completely overreacted” by threatening a “full-scale lockout.”

“Our members have repeatedly tried since our contract expired on March 31, 2023 to bargain a new contract without any job action but the BCMEA employers have refused to move and now want to create a crisis instead of negotiating,” Morena said last week.

Steven MacKinnon, Canada’s labour minister, said in a social media post on Sunday that federal mediators are standing by and ready to assist the parties.

MacKinnon said he spoke with the B.C. Maritime Employers Association and the union about negotiations for their new collective agreement. He said both parties have a responsibility to reach an agreement, adding “businesses, workers and farmers are counting on them” to strike a deal.