The Canadian Merchant Service Guild has issued a strike notice to Seaspan Ferries Corporation after meetings with a provincial mediator came to an impasse.
The 72-hour strike notice was issued at 3 p.m. on Jan. 18, which means the union will be going on strike as of the same time on Jan. 21 unless the two groups come to an agreement.
In December, the two groups negotiated what is considered essential service at the BC Labour Relations Board.
Under the agreement, there will be no more than one round trip between Tilbury and Duke Point, and one between Tilbury and Swartz Bay per day.
The trips will also be limited to 30 per cent of the loading capacity, and they will only be able to take essential freight.
Kendra Slawson, the owner of Penta Transport says this will have a large impact on Vancouver Island since Seaspan and BC Ferries are the main companies that deliver freight to the Island.
Slawson says Seaspan normally does 15-20 trips per day, and she does not believe BC Ferries would have enough capacity to take on the extra freight.
She says she is also frustrated with Seaspan that they were served the strike notice a few days ago and didn’t send it along to their customers right away when the company received the strike notice.
“Seaspan could have done a better job at that as well. Why aren’t you communicating to your customers? We spend millions of dollars a year why aren’t we worth that notice 48 hours ago that was a really frustrating thing,” Slawson said.
She also says this strike could further compound the supply chain issues that have been causing disruptions due to the pandemic and weather-related infrastructure damage.
In a notice sent to customers, Seaspan said it acknowledges the strike will cause disruption and have an impact on Island communities.
CHEK News has reached out to the union and Seaspan for comment on this story.
This is a developing story. More will be added as details become available.
