Mediated settlement reached at Seaspan in Vancouver

It took two strike mandates and two agreement rejections but members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), Local 692 ratified the five-union poly-party contract agreement with Seaspan Vancouver Shipyards on Nov. 22.

“This employer wanted to remove seniority provisions of our current collective agreement,” said Walter Gerlach, IAM district lodge 250 directing business representative. “We have dispatch rights in the shipyards and the employer wanted to control them, it was among 11 proposals they introduced to weaken our seniority rights. They also wanted to assign work from one union’s jurisdiction to another.”

That prompted a 99.7 per cent strike mandate from the membership. Once the two sides returned to the table it took nine meetings to remove the employer’s proposals but the subsequent memorandum of agreement was rejected, said the union.

However, Seaspan refused to drop its demand for a compressed work week to which the unions responded with another 72-hour strike notice. This memorandum of agreement was also rejected. Finally, the two sides agreed to a mediated settlement which the five unions involved ratified by just over 60 per cent, said IAM.

The five-year agreement provides wage increases of two per cent plus $0.15 per hour for health and welfare or pensions in the first, second and third year respectively and a three per cent wage increase plus $0.15 per hour for health and welfare or pensions in the fourth and fifth year respectively. The agreement also contains a new grievance procedure intended to streamline the grievance process, said the union.