Union leadership recommends members accept tentative deal to avoid another B.C. port strike

Union leadership says it is going to recommend its members accept a tentative agreement to end the weeks-long strike at B.C.'s ports, potentially bringing the high-stakes labour dispute one step closer to its end.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU Canada) will put the terms of the deal to its membership at a stop-work meeting on Tuesday, according to a letter posted online.

If the members accept the agreement after that, the dispute will be over.

On Friday, the B.C. Maritime Employers Association said the agreement to be presented to workers is the same one the union's caucus rejected just days ago.

In a statement, the association said the deal is the proposal reached with a federal mediator and was originally agreed to by both sides on July 13.

"The tentative agreement presented is the result of months of negotiations and mediation,'' the association statement said, adding that employers are "hopeful" the union's membership will fully ratify it when a vote is held, possibly late next week.

In a tweet, Federal Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan thanked the union for sending the latest terms to its membership after an "emergency" meeting earlier Friday.

"Right now, B.C. ports are operating, but we need long-term stability," the minister's tweet read.

Union president Rob Ashton said in a statement that members will take the 8 a.m. shift off next Tuesday for the meeting where the deal will be presented. Workers have been back on the job since Thursday after a complicated week of negotiations.

The union's caucus rejected an earlier tentative agreement that had been worked out with a mediator. The move set off a brief strike before a Canada Industrial Relations Board ruled the job action was illegal.

The union then issued 72-hours notice to restart the strike on Saturday, only to rescind it hours later. Work resumed at ports across B.C. on Thursday and has continued since.

The two sides have been negotiating a new collective agreement since March but went on strike from July 1 to 13 after getting stuck in a deadlock. The job action froze billions of dollars worth of goods from ports across B.C., including Canada's largest in Vancouver.

Mark Thompson, University of British Columbia professor emeritus at the Sauder School of Business, says port strikes common in the 1980s and 1990s weren't allowed to drag on as this latest dispute has done.

"The government [today] is very reluctant to enact back-to-work legislation, so we are in uncharted territory right now,'' he said.