Signs displaying "closed" are seen at the Centerm Container Terminal as striking International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada workers picket at the port, in Vancouver, B.C., Tuesday, July 11, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
VANCOUVER – A source close to negotiations over the British Columbia port strike says both sides have received the terms of a settlement recommended by a federal mediator that could end the 12-day-old industrial action.
The delivery of the terms comes after Federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan late Tuesday instructed the mediator to send him the terms within 24 hours so he could forward them to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada and the B.C. Maritime Employers Association.
The two sides have 24 hours upon receiving the recommendations to decide whether or not to ratify the agreement.
Neither side have confirmed they have received the terms.
British Columbia business groups say there’s no guarantee the strike will end quickly despite O’Regan’s move.
The groups, including the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, the B.C. Council of Forest Industries and the Mining Association of B.C. say they are continuing to call for federal back-to-work legislation to end the strike involving 7,400 dock workers at more than 30 ports.
O’Regan said Tuesday the gap between the workers’ and employers’ positions is “not sufficient to justify a continued work stoppage.”
B.C. Premier David Eby said at the close of a premiers’ meeting in Winnipeg on Wednesday that the strike cannot drag on, while Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said his province’s potash customers could soon take their business to Russia and Belarus if the dispute continues.
Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson said if businesses can’t get their goods to markets because of the strike, Canada could start to lose international customers.
The mediator’s recommended terms are non-binding, and either side can vote to reject them.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 12, 2023.
