Container ships are loaded and unloaded at the TSI Terminal Systems Inc at Deltaport in Delta, BC, August 05, 2010.Lyle Stafford for the Globe and Mail
After more than a year of negotiations, longshore workers and their employer have reached a tentative collective agreement that both sides hope will help dispel the image of near-constant labour uncertainty at West Coast ports.
International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada announced the tentative deal Monday, though it declined to provide details until after a membership vote next week. The ILWU leadership caucus must also approve the agreement, on which it's expected to vote Thursday.
Union president Tom Dufresne said the group's bargaining committee unanimously recommended the deal, which would provide stability at the Pacific Coast workplaces that employ 3,500 members.
"We believe it's a fair agreement. It's a good achievement for our members. We've achieved some new items in the contract that we haven't had before and we're cautiously optimistic that the members will vote for the contract," Mr. Dufresne said in an interview.
The previous contract between the ILWU and the BC Maritime Employers Association expired in March of 2010. That same month, the federal government appointed mediators who recommended the deal be extended, along with some changes to wages.
Though the Vancouver port hasn't had a labour-related work stoppage since a brief lockout in 1999, the constant threat of labour disruptions has led some companies to pay additional costs to ship goods in and out of the U.S. West Coast.
Mr. Dufresne said the new agreement would go a long way in dispelling unfavourable images of B.C. ports. "This tentative agreement that we have will add to the long-term stability, reliability and predictability," he said, though he would not comment on how long the new deal would run.
BCMEA spokesman Greg Vurdela echoed Mr. Dufresne's sentiments, predicting the deal would have a very positive effect. "With this now hopefully ratified and stable, frankly I think we're going to hang out our shingle and declare to the world that we're open for business."
Mr. Vurdela called the Asia-Pacific Gateway "a huge economic engine for Canada" and said any work stoppage clearly would have been detrimental. A 2008 study found that Port Metro Vancouver, for instance, represented $9.8-billion in economic output for the B.C. economy.
There had been reports in February that the union was preparing to issue a strike notice, a claim the ILWU strongly denied. Mr. Dufresne would not comment Monday on how close the union came to issuing a strike notice, saying it was looking to the future.
Chris Badger, chief operating officer at Port Metro Vancouver, said he too was "cautiously optimistic" the deal would be ratified.
"It is more perception than reality, our reputation about our reliability," he said.
"Clearly, if we can show that we are a gateway that can deal effectively with collective agreements and provide good labour reliability, then that would obviously be very good for our reputation going forward."