OTTAWA, Jul 21 (Reuters) – Leaders of a longshoreman union in Canada’s Pacific region on Friday backed a preliminary contract agreement with employers and will soon recommend ratification to members, likely ending a deadlock that led to a crippling 13-day strike.
On Tuesday, “there will be a stoppage meeting … to recommend the settlement terms to members,” the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) said in a statement.
Leaders were due to vote Friday on whether to recommend ratification. Details of the tentative deal were not provided.
Some 7,500 longshoremen walked away from work for 13 days earlier this month. That strike ended last week with a provisional agreement that was rejected by the union leadership on Tuesday.
The strike is estimated to have disrupted C$6.5 billion ($4.9 billion) in cargo movements at the ports, based on the industry organization Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters’ calculation of about C$500 million in disrupted trade per day.
The strike has disrupted operations in Vancouver and Prince Rupert, two of Canada’s three busiest ports, which are key gateways for natural resource and raw material exports and supply of raw materials.
Canadian Labor Minister Seamus O’Regan thanked union leadership for recommending the deal.
“Right now, British Columbia’s ports are up and running, but we need long-term stability,” he tweeted.
The ILWU initially told its members to return to the picket line, but then backed down when a federal watchdog said it failed to give 72 hours’ notice. It then announced that the strike would resume on Saturday, prompting calls for the federal government to recall parliament to return to work.
But the ILWU on Wednesday withdrew its strike announcement and abandoned talks in what the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) said was a “fluid and unpredictable situation.”
Reporting by Steve Scherer in Ottawa and Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Ismail Shakil and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Edited by Nick Zieminski, Grant McCool and Deepa Babington
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