Over six hundred workers at the six main grain export terminals in Vancouver are returning to work as of Saturday, September 28.
Their four day strike, which nearly halted grain shipments through Western Canada’s largest port, came to an end late Friday, as the Grain Workers Union Local 333 agreed to a tentative four-year deal with the Vancouver Terminal Elevators’ Association (VTEA.)
Workers will be returning to work at the Alliance Grain, Cargill, Cascadia (owned by Viterra and Richardson), G3, Pacific (Viterra), and Richardson International terminals in Vancouver as early as 7am Pacific time on Saturday.
A ratification vote on the tentative agreement is scheduled for October 4.
The new deal would run through December 31, 2027, replacing the previous agreement that expired at the end of December 2023.
The two sides worked with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services, on direction from Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon, on Wednesday and Thursday, but it appeared talks had broken down on Friday morning, as the lead federal mediator had stepped back from the negotiations to report back to the labour minister on the stalemate.
The situation changed quickly later in the day, as both sides were able to come to a deal with assistance from federal mediators Friday evening.
“Thanks to the parties for putting in the work necessary to get a deal done, and to federal mediators for their support,” said MacKinnon, in a post on X on Friday night.
Some grain handling operations at the six terminals were sustained by management staff through the strike, but at significantly reduced volumes, according to a stakeholder update from the Western Grain Elevator Association on Friday.
In 2023, terminal elevators at Vancouver handled 52 per cent of all grain produced across Canada, according to Grain Growers of Canada.
The conclusion of the grain worker strike in Vancouver comes as multiple other labour disputes loom at ports across North America.
Around 730 ship and dock forepersons in Vancouver could also go on strike in the coming weeks. Members of the ILWU Local 514 voted in favour of a strike in August, but are waiting for a ruling from the Canada Industrial Relations Board on their labour impasse with the BC Maritime Employers Association, which represents 49 companies that operate in the port.
The union representing longshore workers at the Port of Montreal also gave 72-hour strike notice on Friday for 350 workers at two terminals that handle a third of the port’s container shipments.
In the U.S., the International Longshoremen’s Association, which represents around 45 thousand dockworkers at 36 ports along the Eastern Seaboard and Gulf Coast, have threatened to walk off the job on Tuesday (Oct. 1) if they don’t reach an agreement with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX).
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