Port workers across British Columbia, including in Vancouver and Prince Rupert, have voted 99% in favor or a strike.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU), which represents 7,000 terminal cargo workers in the country, said its members could now walk off the job and shutdown west coast port operations on June 24.
The union vote occurred during a 21-day cooling-off period between the British Maritime Employers Association and ILWU Canada.
Negotiations between management and labour began on March 28 of this year. Two mediators appointed by the Government of Canada participated in discussions that ran until the end of May.
The Port of Vancouver is the biggest in Canada. It is estimated that Canada’s west coast ports handle about $225 billion worth of cargo a year, much of it consumer products such as electronics and home goods.
The threat of a strike on Canada’s west coast comes amid escalating labour tensions at U.S. west coast ports. The neighboring Port of Seattle has been closed in recent days to unionized work stoppages.
Supply chain fears are growing in both Canada and the U.S. as cargo piles up at ports up and down the western seaboard due to the ongoing labour strife.
A low water level in the Panama Canal is making shipping goods to east coast ports unfeasible right now.