The union representing outside workers at the Metro Vancouver Regional District says it is taking job action Tuesday that could delay the dredging of Burrard Inlet for larger oil and cargo vessels. The Greater Vancouver Regional District Employees’ Union said it would establish picket lines at two watermain work sites in North Vancouver where work must be completed before the dredging can occur. The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority is dredging the Burrard Inlet under the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge to allow larger oil tankers and cargo vessels access to Vancouver’s port lands and the Trans Mountain pipeline export terminal. The GVRDEU president says the union is escalating job action because negotiations with Metro Vancouver management have stalled 19 months after the group’s collective agreement with the employer expired. “GVRDEU members are fed up, they are angry and they are willing to keep increasing job action to affect critical projects, including dredging Burrard Inlet for oil tanker traffic, because we can’t get Metro Vancouver to come back to negotiations with a new and fair contract proposal—and we’re done,” president Jesse Medeiros said in a statement. “If it takes job action that impacts major projects and disrupts municipal elections in October, that’s on Metro Vancouver, not its workers.” According to the union, the dredging work must be completed between now and February to mitigate impacts on fish habitat and the environment. Medeiros said the port authority is pushing Metro Vancouver to complete the watermain work before the dredging can begin. “The union is not interested in stopping major federal, provincial or municipal projects but our priority is a new collective agreement and Metro Vancouver has consistently refused to meet our members’ concerns over health and safety, recruitment and retention of skilled workers and contracting out bargaining unit work,” Medeiros said. Metro Vancouver said Friday it remains committed reaching an agreement at the bargaining table after mediated talks ended last month. “We have made ourselves available for additional mediated bargaining dates to work toward a negotiated settlement,” the employer said. “Our offer includes wage increases of more than 10 per cent over three years, which is consistent with other recently negotiated agreements in the region.”
