Canadian Port Strike Comes To An End
A Canadian port strike, which halted operations for 13 days at the Port of Vancouver, came to an end on Friday, thanks to mediation by the Canadian government.
The strike, which impacted 30 ports on the West Coast of Canada, had been costing an estimated £300m per day since July 1st.
The sometimes bitter dispute had left the workforce out of contract since March, as the ILWU union and port management failed to come to a compromise over pay and automation.
However, the introduction of a federal mediator enabled an agreement that was acceptable to both parties. The new deal has to be approved officially by the union’s members, but that is expected to be a formality.
While workers were back in the port Friday, there is a backlog of around 63,000 containers. Cargo flow should be returning to normal this week but it could be a few weeks before the backlog is cleared.
Vancouver is Canada’s largest port, and as the gateway to Asia it handles around 43% of all port traffic entering the country.
