The Coastal Ferry Act (CFA) was introduced in 2003. The intention was to put BC Ferries on the road to privatization. Shortly after the CFA was legislated, our union began bargaining.
When talks broke down, the response escalated to a fleet wide strike and public protest. After five days of bitter dispute and by mutual agreement, the parties proceeded to binding arbitration under the oversight of Vince Ready.
The Collective Agreement that came out of the 2003 strike was for nine years and started the Exclusion/Inclusion battle that still continues today.