A transport truck carries a cargo container to the Centerm Container Terminal at port in Vancouver, on Friday, July 14, 2023. The uncertainty at British Columbia ports continues as the union representing about 7,400 workers and their employers remain without a deal in what one labour expert calls a "unprecedented" situation. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
VANCOUVER – The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada says it will hold a meeting Tuesday to recommend the terms of a tentative agreement to its membership.
The development may end the labour dispute between the union and the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association, which shut down the province’s port facilities for 13 days earlier this month.
Union president Rob Ashton says in a written statement that members will take the 8 a.m. shift off Tuesday for the meeting where the deal will be presented.
News of a possible agreement broke late yesterday as the union’s Local 502 said on its website that the union would hold an “emergency contract caucus” today to decide whether to ratify the deal and send it to full-membership vote.
The two sides have been negotiating a new collective agreement since March but reached an impasse despite the aid of a federal mediator that triggering the strike from July 1 to July 13.
The job action by about 7,400 workers froze billions of dollars’ worth of goods at Canada’s key West Coast import and export points.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 21, 2021.
