Work was poised to resume Thursday after both sides in British Columbia鈥檚 port strike agreed to a tentative deal to end the stoppage that has halted cargo movements for 13 days.
The B.C. Maritime Employers Association said work would begin again with Thursday鈥檚 4:30 p.m. Pacific-time shift, confirming an earlier Tweet from its dispatch centre.
The employers association said earlier it had reached a four-year agreement with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada, which represents 7,400 workers in the job action that began July 1.
The union has not commented on the deal but federal Labour Minister Seamus O鈥橰egan and Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said in a joint statement Thursday that both sides were finalizing details of the work resumption.
In a Tweet responding to the tentative deal, O鈥橰egan said 鈥渢he strike is over.鈥�
The tentative deal comes after O鈥橰egan ordered a mediator to issue terms of possible settlement earlier this week, saying the gap in the deadlocked talks was 鈥渘ot sufficient to justify a continued work stoppage.鈥�
The deal is subject to ratification by members of both the union and the employers, and no additional details have been released. The employers association said it 鈥渞ecognizes the skills and efforts of B.C.鈥檚 waterfront workforce.鈥�
B.C. Premier David Eby applauded the tentative deal.
鈥淚 am optimistic that this deal will help bring long-term stability to our ports, solidify Vancouver as a world-class trade centre, strengthen our economy and provide fairness to workers,鈥� he said in a statement.
Both the union and the employers had 24 hours to respond to the mediator鈥檚 recommended terms, which both sides received Wednesday morning.
O鈥橰egan and Alghabra thanked both sides, but noted the scale of the disruption has been significant.
鈥淭he extent of it has shown just how important the relationship between industry and labour is to our national interest. Our supply chains and our economy depend on it,鈥� their statement said.
鈥淒eals like this, made between parties at the collective bargaining table, are the best way to prevent that. They are the best way to preserve the long-term stability of Canada鈥檚 economy. But we do not want to be back here again.鈥�
The strike had halted work at 33 port terminals and other sites in B.C. Among the ports shut down was Canada鈥檚 largest, the Port of Vancouver.
The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade has said there were 63,000 shipping containers stuck on vessels waiting at B.C. ports to be unloaded as of Wednesday, and that number would have ballooned to 245,000 had the strike persisted to the end of July.
Bridgitte Anderson, CEO of the board, said it was pleased to hear of the tentative deal but it would take time for normal cargo operations to resume and for the economy to recover.
鈥淭he consequences of the strike have been felt across various industries nationwide and will continue for some time,鈥� she said.
The board estimated that the 13-day strike, which Anderson said was the longest stoppage in more than 40 years, disrupted $9.7 billion in trade as of Thursday morning.
Dennis Darby, CEO of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, said in a statement that it is relieved the 鈥渃risis鈥� seems to be over, but noted that manufacturers would be spending the 鈥渘ext several months sorting through the damage and getting caught up.鈥�
鈥淭he total cost to our industry is not just the days of the strike, but the days and months of work that precede and follow a disruption,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is why we need reforms that will avoid a complete shutdown of Canada鈥檚 transportation system and supply chains every six months.鈥�
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith criticized the federal government for its reaction to the strike, saying it needs to be more proactive in the future.
鈥淭hey need to get involved earlier, make sure that these disputes do not go on this long,鈥� she told reporters Thursday.
鈥淭his is essential infrastructure and they need to work with all of the premiers now in expanding the opportunity for us to have more ports of access so that there is that redundancy in the event that we do find ourselves in a labour dispute in future.鈥�
Speaking at an LNG industry conference in Vancouver, Smith also said the Port of Vancouver needed to operate more efficiently.
鈥淚t is the second lowest performing port in the world and I would hope that everybody, now that there鈥檚 an agreement, will double down on ensuring that they improve that performance so that we can get more productivity,鈥� she said.
Canadian Chamber of Commerce CEO Perrin Beatty said the Canadian economy 鈥渨as seriously damaged鈥� by the labour action.
鈥淭his strike demonstrates that government must increase the tools available to ensure labour stability for our critical infrastructure and our supply chains,鈥� he said in a statement Thursday.
But UBC labour relations professor Mark Thompson praised O鈥橰egan for his 鈥済ood sense of timing鈥� and for not 鈥渘egotiating in the media.鈥�
鈥淗e told the parties they had 24 hours. We don鈥檛 know what the alternative to that was and that鈥檚 a very good idea that he didn鈥檛 make it public,鈥� he said.
Though the details of the agreement have not yet been released, Thompson said he expects operations will resume quickly.
鈥淭he port operates very efficiently and they鈥檒l move and they鈥檒l work extra time and I would say that鈥檚 a backlog that will be eliminated in fairly short order 鈥� certainly within a couple of weeks, I would say.鈥�
READ ALSO:
READ ALSO:
