Dockworkers in western Canada voted on Friday to accept an improved labour contract bringing an end to a month-long dispute that had seen ships backing up at key ports Vancouver and Prince Rupert.
Canada’s minister of labour Seamus O’Regan and the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) confirmed that the International Longshore and Warehouse Union had ratified the deal.
“The renewed collective agreement includes increases in wages, benefits and training that recognizes the skills and efforts of BC’s waterfront workforce, while providing certainty and stability for the future of Canada’s west coast ports,” the BCMEA said in a statement.
Business groups welcomed the deal while calling on the federal government to come up with new methods to handle similar disputes in the future.
“Our supply chains are only as strong as their weakest link,” Canadian Chamber of Commerce vice president Robin Guy said in a statement.
