VANCOUVER, B.C. — About 140 owner/operators from Port-Team Transport and Pacific Trucking say they’re ready to go on strike as early as May 4, causing considerable disruption to Vancouver ports.

The truckers held a strike vote Sunday after talks aimed at settling a collective agreement that expired in December ended without a resolution, the truckers reported.

If they do strike, they said it would cause “major upset at the Ports of Greater Vancouver.”

The O/Os belong to CAW Local 2006 and serve 26 port container trucking companies.

“We now have four ratified collective agreements with four of the largest companies hauling on the Ports of Greater Vancouver,” said CAW national representative, Stu Shields. “Port-Team and Pacific want a very different deal than what the other companies are agreeing to.”

“Every labour dispute on the Vancouver Port is a direct result of container trucking companies undercutting one another; now we have two companies trying to undercut at the bargaining table and the CAW won’t accept this,” Shields added.

According to the owner/operators, the only issue in dispute is a trip rate dealing with the short-distance movement of empty containers. The union says other trucking companies have already agreed on terms, but the owner of both Port-Team Transport and Pacific Trucking is holding out, the CAW reports.