Some 600 workers at six Metro Vancouver grain terminals returned to work Saturday, ending three days of a strike, following a settlement reached Friday evening between the Grain Workers Union Local 333 and the Vancouver Terminal Elevators Association (VTEA). The workers returned to their jobs ahead of a ratification vote on October 4.
The settlement was reached after negotiations appeared to have stalled.
Facilities involved include Viterra’s Cascadia and Pacific Terminals, Richardson International Terminal, Cargill Limited Terminal, G3 Terminal Vancouver and Alliance Grain Terminal.
A statement from VTEA says the employers made a generous offer on wages “clearly ahead of the last six years’ of inflation curve.”
Picket lines had gone up at the six grain terminals in Metro Vancouver last Tuesday after union negotiators said the employers’ group had not “meaningfully engaged” in a dozen days of bargaining.
Both sides held talks on Wednesday and Thursday after federal Labour Minister Steven McKinnon directed them back to the bargaining table with the help of a federal mediator.
More than half of all Canadian-grown grain last year moved through the affected terminals. The VTEA estimated the strike could halt 100,000 metric tons of commodities arriving at the terminals each day and cost $35 million daily in lost exports.
(Photo of G3 terminal in Vancouver)
