B.C. port workers approve new contract, formally ending long-running labour dispute

Unionized port workers in B.C. have voted in favour of a new contract negotiated with their employer, putting an end to months of uncertainty at the province’s ports.

In a brief statement Friday evening, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada said 74.66 per cent of its members had voted in favour of the tentative agreement, which was reached last weekend with the help of the Canada Industrial Relations Board.

Friday’s vote to approve the new agreement with the BC Maritime Employers Association comes after the ILWU Canada twice rejected a previous deal.

The ILWU Canada’s 7,400 B.C. members most recently rejected a negotiated agreement in a vote on July 28.

That same deal – which was drafted by a mediator at the request of federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan – had been recommended for ratification by the union’s leadership, which initially rejected it without a membership vote on July 18.

The first tentative agreement put an end to a 13-day strike that froze cargo movements in and out of 30 port terminals and other sites in B.C.

Business groups estimated that the strike cost Canada’s economy billions of dollars in trade.

With files from The Canadian Press