Victoria Shipyards, based at the federally owned Esquimalt Graving Dock, has been served 72-hour strike notice by the union representing workers.
Notice was delivered to the company on Tuesday morning, Phil Venoit, business manager and financial secretary for Local 230 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said Wednesday.
The union said the goal is to encourage the employer to return to the negotiating table, where a mediator has been booked in.
It was not immediately clear on Wednesday afternoon if the mediator had been asked to book out or not. But if that happened, a 48-hour cooling off period is required, meaning that a strike would not necessarily be permitted as early as Friday morning, the end of the 72-hour period.
Local 191 of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers bargains on behalf of the group of 10 unions working at the shipyard.
Strike notice follows a vote resulting in a 98 per cent strike mandate.
Robert Taylor, bargaining agent for the group, said earlier that he was hoping the strike mandate would encourage the employer to return to the bargaining table.
A strike at the shipyard would be an economic hit for the capital region. Up to 1,400 workers are employed there, representing millions of dollars in payroll in the community.
Victoria Shipyards belongs to Seaspan of North Vancouver, which also owns Vancouver Shipyards and Vancouver Drydock.
The unions and employer have been deadlocked. The most recent offer by the employer was rejected by the union on Feb. 28, because it did not address the rising cost of living, and because a second coffee break would have been eliminated.
Taylor said that break is essential for workers’ physical health, since they may spend hours in cramped and uncomfortable positions and need to be able to move and stretch during that break time.
Victoria Shipyards is proposing a rolling work week that would see workers putting in longer work hours and working fewer days. But some of those employees would work through weekends, giving them virtually no time for their families, Taylor said.
Unions at the shipyard represent boilermakers, painters, sheet metal workers, office staff, iron workers, pipe fitters, labourers, carpenters, and machinists and electricians.
Seaspan did not provide an immediate comment on Wednesday.
