VANCOUVER — Independent can haulers at the Port of Vancouver staged a noisy protest yesterday, indicating that more labor unrest in the Lower Mainland is a possibility.

The truckers — members of a Vancouver Container Truckers’ Association (VCTA)-CAW coalition — are demanding that the Vancouver Port Authority and governments do a better job of enforcing previously mandated trucking rates paid by drayage carriers.

VCTA-CAW Local 2006 President Paul Johal said the ongoing failure to pay agreed upon rates are squeezing independent truckers just as union collective agreements are about to expire.

"Our members can’t make ends meet when companies don’t pay the rates everyone agreed to," said Johal. "Owner-operators are being squeezed out of business at the Port and that is unacceptable."

Vanport owner-ops say they want a ‘lasting’ solution

In an attempt to end a six-week wildcat strike by the owner-ops in 2005 and bring stability to the ports, the federal government mandated the VPA to enact a port licensing system which included guaranteed rates paid to owner-ops, among other provisions.

Not surprisingly, most carriers opposed the new rules. The BC Trucking Association complained at the time forcing carriers to pay independent owner-ops union-type rates would send a "disturbing message" to other "disgruntled and disenfranchised groups."

But Uppal insists many carrier companies still aren’t complying and many of the longstanding problems facing port truckers have not been resolved.

"We had major disputes in 1989, in 1999 and in 2005 and here we are again in 2008 without a resolution for truck owner-operators at the Port with the same issues facing us," Uppal said. "It’s time for the Port and federal and provincial governments to work with truckers for a lasting solution."

Adds Hemi Mitic, executive assistant to the President of CAW Canada, says "no one wants to see a strike … (but) today’s protest is a wake-up call to the Vancouver Port Authority and both governments that it’s time for action to fix these problems now — truckers have been patient long enough."