The situation at the West Coast Canadian Ports has been erratic this week. Continuing a dispute that led to a multi-week strike at the start of this month, ILWU workers walked back off the job Tuesday afternoon after their union caucus voted down last week’s tentative deal.
However, the Canadian Industrial Relations Board quickly ruled the resumption of the strike illegal, because no formal strike notice had been posted 72 hours in advance. Subsequently, the ILWU first issued, then retracted a fresh strike notice on Wednesday with minimal public comment.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has convened the Canadian Incident Response Group, consisting of cabinet ministers and senior officials, to assist with the negotiations to help get the West Coast Ports fully up and running again. As of Thursday morning, the ports were open and active. However, as the situation continues to evolve, the potential for further disruptions of these critical Canadian ports remains high. We hope to get a clearer picture of the potential for a full resumption of the strike by the weekend, and will continue to monitor the situation.
As previously noted, this issue does not directly impact domestic US Ports, though knock-on supply chain impacts are possible.
Shifting our focus back to the U.S., talk of another strike is brewing, this time at the Yellow Corporation, including YRC Freight.
Per a statement from the Teamsters Union on Tuesday, “The Central States Board of Trustees voted Monday to suspend health care benefits and cease pension accruals for Yellow workers, after two Yellow operating companies, Holland and Yellow Freight, failed to fulfill their financial obligations. Teamsters are preparing for a possible strike as early as July 24.”
“Yellow was due to make a payment to Central States July 15. Suspension of benefits will take effect July 23 and Teamsters say they are preparing for a possible strike as early as July 24…Yellow, the nation’s third largest less than truckload carrier and fifth largest transportation company” CCJ reports. The talk of a strike follows an over four month long clash between Yellow Corp. and Teamsters.
In response to this news, Audit Logistics has preemptively suspended Yellow and YRC Freight from our active load list, as we await further developments.
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