Work in British Columbia ports resumes after a 13-day strike
VANCOUVER – British Columbia’s longshoremen are back to work after a tentative agreement was reached between the employers’ organization and the union, ending a 13-day strike.
A spokesman for the BC Maritime Employers Association says work in the Port of Vancouver began yesterday at 4:30 p.m. with 120 workers sent out overnight, and will rise to 500 by 8 a.m. today.
The association says it has reached a four-year agreement with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada.
The union, which represents 7,400 workers in the job campaign that began on July 1, has not yet commented on the pact.
The agreement is subject to ratification by members of both the union and maritime employers, and no additional details about the deal have been released.
Federal Secretary of Labor Seamus O’Regan said Thursday the strike that cost billions in trade was over and thanked both sides.
But he and Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said in a statement that the magnitude of the disruption showed the importance of the relationship between industry and labor, and that Canada’s “supply chains and our economy depend on it.”
The tentative agreement to end the strike came after O’Regan directed a mediator to issue terms of a settlement.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on July 14, 2023.
