Workers at six Port of Vancouver grain terminals will vote Friday on a new contract offer.
The workers, members of Grain Workers Union Local 333, walked off the job last Tuesday morning after failing to come to terms on a new deal with the Vancouver Terminal Elevators’ Association. However, federal Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon announced in a social media post Friday evening that the two sides had come to an agreement with the help of federal mediators.
“Thanks to the parties for putting in the work necessary to get a deal done, and to federal mediators for their support,” MacKinnon said in his post.
No details of the tentative new contract have been released but the union said in a post on its Facebook page that it would be recommending acceptance of the deal.
The approximately 650 grain terminal workers were back on the job Saturday morning, much to the relief of Prairie farmers who are in the midst of harvest and need to get their crops to market.
The Grain Growers of Canada warned a strike would stop all shipments of bulk grain from the Port of Vancouver, resulting in a loss of $35 million in exports daily.
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