(Vancouver) A tentative agreement has been reached between maritime employers and the 7,400 BC port stevedores who have been on strike for nearly two weeks.
In a statement, the province’s maritime employers’ association says it has reached a four-year tentative agreement with the union representing longshoremen, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada.
The tentative agreement was reached after federal Labor Minister Seamus O’Regan asked a mediator to draft the terms of a possible settlement earlier this week. The minister explained Wednesday evening that “the difference between the positions of the employer and the union was not sufficient to justify the continuation” of the strike.
The union and employers had 24 hours to respond to the mediator’s proposed settlement, which both sides received on Wednesday.
Minister O’Regan wrote Thursday afternoon on Twitter: “the strike is over”. He added that the union and employers’ association had “agreed to the federal mediators’ terms of settlement.” He clarified that the parties are now finalizing the details of the return to work at the ports of British Columbia.
This agreement in principle must now be ratified by both parties, so the details will not be made public. The Maritime Employers Association says the agreement “recognizes the skills and efforts of British Columbia longshoremen.”
Employers say they are now working to restart port operations as soon as possible, but no date for resumption has been specified.
The strike has since July 1 halted shipments to and from some 30 ports in British Columbia, including the largest in Canada, Vancouver.
The Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce says as of Wednesday, 63,000 containers were waiting to be unloaded from ships at BC ports. According to the Chamber, this number would have reached 245,000 containers if the strike had lasted until the end of July.
