The leadership of the port workers union in British Columbia has backed a tentative contract agreement with employers and will recommend the ratification of the contract to members, likely ending a standoff that led to a 13-day strike.
On Tuesday, “there will be a stop work meeting … to recommend the Terms of Settlement to the membership,” the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) said in a statement on its website.
Leadership had been due to vote on Friday on whether to recommend ratification. No details about the tentative deal were provided.
Some 7,500 dock workers walked off the job for 13 days earlier this month. That strike ended last week with a tentative deal that was rejected by union leadership on Tuesday.
The ILWU initially told its members to return to the picket line, but then retracted when a federal watchdog said it had not provided 72-hours notice. It then gave notice for the strike to restart on Saturday, prompting calls for the federal government to recall Parliament to pass back-to-work legislation.
But the ILWU then withdrew its strike notice on Wednesday, leaving the talks in what the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) said was a “fluid and unpredictable situation.”
The strike has upended operations at Vancouver and Prince Rupert, two of Canada’s three busiest ports, which are key gateways for exporting natural resources and commodities and bringing in raw materials.
The walkout is estimated to have disrupted $6.5 billion of cargo movement at the ports, based on the industry body Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters’ calculation of about $500 million in disrupted trade each day.
