The B-C Maritime Employers Association says the strike at the province's ports now in its seventh day is causing layoffs in related industries.
The association says it has learned of the layoffs as well as cargo diversions as the labour dispute drags on, calling on the International Longshore and Warehouse Union to enter a voluntary arbitration process to end the strike.
The I-L-W-U says the employers association has launched a smear campaign against their own workers to try and break the strike.
I-L-W-U Canada president Rob Ashton says the employers are refusing to share massive profits with workers, while exaggerating dock workers' earnings and being silent on bonuses and salaries of senior managers and company C-E-Os.
