VANCOUVER, B.C. – The Office of the British Columbia Port Trucking Commissioner on Friday released a series of rulings that truck drivers are owned more than $150,000 in back wages as part of an agreement that ended a 2014 strike at the Port of Metro Vancouver.

In the first three public decisions under the Container Trucking Act, Columbia Containers was found to have owed 14 truck drivers $106,501.33 in fuel surcharges payments.

For failure to pay correct hourly rates, Amalgamated Transport Systems Ltd. owed ten company drivers $9,264.84.

A third company, AC Transport, owed a total of $36,373.54 to 37 drivers.

The three companies were not assessed any penalties by the commissioner as they voluntarily paid after an audit identified a shortfall in payment to drivers and cooperated with the investigation.

The decisions also stated that a lack of timely voluntary compliance and good faith cooperation will not be tolerated going forward.

The decisions were cheered by the largest union in the sector, Unifor, saying the rulings usher in a new and long-overdue era of enforcement.

“This is the tip of the iceberg for what is owed to container truck drivers across the sector,” said Gavin McGarrigle, Unifor’s BC area director.

“The Container Trucking Act is crystal clear, and that was echoed in today’s ruling: employers who try to break the rules will face penalties of up to $500,000,” said McGarrigle.

The Container Trucking Act was put into law as a result of a strike in 2014 at Port Metro Vancouver, which such down operations at the facility, as drivers protested long wait times and compensation. The protest and Container Trucking Act also resulted in setting up the Office of the British Columbia Port Trucking Commissioner.

You can read the decision on the Office of the British Columbia Port Trucking Commissioner’s website.