(Bloomberg) -- Vancouver grain terminal workers will return to work as soon as Saturday morning, ending a walkout at Canada’s busiest port at the height of harvest season.
Canada’s Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service oversaw negotiations between the Vancouver Terminal Elevator Association and Grain Workers Union Local 333 after about 600 unionized employees walked off their jobs Tuesday morning.
Terminals will reopen as early as 7 a.m. Pacific time Saturday, and a ratification vote will take place by Oct. 4, said Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Western Grain Elevator Association, who was commenting on behalf of the Vancouver operator group. Douglas Lea-Smith, president of GWU Local 333, confirmed the memorandum of settlement in a separate message.
Canada’s Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon said in a post on X the two sides had reached a “tentative agreement to get Canada’s harvest to market” and thanked them and federal mediators for their support.
Vancouver handled about half the grain produced in Canada last year, according to the Grain Growers of Canada trade group. It said a stoppage could prevent about 100,000 metric tons from arriving at the port’s terminals each day, meaning a daily potential loss of C$35 million ($26 million), according to industry estimates.
The port’s managers and non-striking longshoremen have been moving a significantly reduced amount of grain through the port since the disruption began.
It’s one of a series of labor disruptions and threats that have affected supply chains through Canada in recent months. Next week two major terminals at Montreal Port will close as unionized dockworkers prepare for a three-day strike starting Monday.
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