VANCOUVER — The rule of law should be applied firmly against independent container haulers who could be planning another massive strike at B.C.’s Lower Mainland ports, says the president of the B.C. Trucking Association.

Responding to a warning from BC Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair that owner-operators could go on strike once again if their demands aren’t met, Paul Landry said no independent worker has the right to “prevent others from earning a living or to impair Canada’s competitive advantage.”

Container owner ops are not employees or workers
in the normal sense, BCTA boss Landry reminds us.

Landry’s letter was sent to The Province newspaper, which published Sinclair’s statements in a guest op-ed. Landry’s response was not printed however.

While Landry agrees with Sinclair that no one wants a sequel to the crippling six-week strike in 2005, he criticized Sinclair’s “sanitize(d)” description of the event, which caused the Canadian economy $500 million. “What he describes as a benign ‘withdrawal of services’ and ‘picket lines’ the media at the time reported as blockades, violence and intimidation,” says Landry.

“Unionization of workers and legal strikes within the context of collective agreements are recognized legitimate processes …

“Container owner-operators are not employees or workers in the normal sense. They are independent contractors or small businesspeople who own and operate their own trucks. They contract themselves and their tractors to trucking companies, maintain and pay the expenses for their vehicles, enjoy the taxation benefits of a small business and decide when and where they are going to work.”

The only difference between the container haulers and owners of “corner stores, dry cleaners and restaurants,” says Landry, is that the latter “don’t have the same opportunity to hold a transportation hub hostage and cause hundreds of millions of dollars of damage to the economy and Canada’s international reputation in an effort to receive preferential treatment from government.”

“Government chose to appease the owner-operators in 2005 only to be threatened again in 2007,” he concludes. “Maybe it’s time to stand up to the intimidation and assure the public that the full force of the law will be applied to keep our ports open.”