(Vancouver) The Canada Industrial Relations Board on Tuesday unveiled new terms of the agreement that ended the BC port dispute, including a commitment from employers to train workers to perform maintenance on new equipment .
Contracting out maintenance work to third parties was one of the most contentious issues during the months-long dispute between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada and the BC Maritime Employers Association.
The four-year agreement also contains several workers’ compensation terms.
They include increases to the “lump sum pension for modernization and mechanization”, bringing this payment to $96,250 in 2026 for eligible retirees, in addition to normal pension entitlements.
The union representing around 7,400 workers said last Friday its members had voted nearly 75% in favor of ratifying the new deal, ending a dispute that included a 13-day strike and halting the movement of goods worth billions of dollars.
The agreement provides general salary increases of 5% per year for the next two years and 4% for the following two years.
These increases will push hourly wages up to a base rate of $57.51 by 2026.
The new terms commit employers to “provide appropriate training to journeypersons […] on how to perform regular maintenance work [as part of] their trade on new and existing equipment.”
