A group of workers who handle jet fuel used at the Vancouver International Airport (YVR) walked off the job Thursday evening.
The 11 workers, represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 502, unionized this past summer and are currently negotiating their first collective agreement.
Rob Ashton, president of ILWU Canada, said Friday the key issue at the bargaining table is the hiring of workers through the union’s Dispatch Hall 502 in Surrey, B.C., where workers go at the start of their shifts to receive job orders.
Ashton wants the employer, SGS Canada, to hire workers from the dispatch hall as opposed to other places.
Ashton told CBC News “it’s an asset” to the employer to have workers hired out of the dispatch hall because they can be hired for short-term and long-term jobs.
“The new longshore members that we have organized feel so strongly about the dispatch hall that they’re willing to go on strike at Christmas time. And we don’t want to go on strike, but this employer is giving us no choice,” Ashton said.
CBC News contacted SGS Canada for comment but has yet to hear back.
Ashton said with the help of a federal mediator, the union and the employer are “getting closer” on other issues, which include pay increases, pension benefits and severance packages.
But he stressed the importance of the dispatch hall issue, saying it will “either break the back of collective bargaining at the site or get a deal.”
The workers unload jet fuel from deep-sea vessels and transport it to YVR, according to the union.
A Vancouver Airport Authority spokesperson said Friday that airlines buy their jet fuel directly from fuel suppliers and oversee the delivery of the fuel through various means — including by truck, pipeline and rail.
SGS only transports a “portion” of fuel on behalf of the airlines, the spokesperson said.
YVR remains in close communication with FSM, the organization that oversees fuel delivery for the airlines and manages their fuel delivery infrastructure, according to the spokesperson.
“We are advised by FSM that, at this time, they do not foresee an operational impact,” the spokesperson said.