Noah Zivitz

Managing Editor, BNN Bloomberg

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Via Rail and Unifor announced a tentative agreement Tuesday that at least temporarily averts a strike.

Shortly before 3am ET, the rail-passenger service and union announced the pact, which requires ratification by approximately 2,400 maintenance and front-line workers.

Unifor served 72-hour strike notice last week, and was poised to launch a strike at a minute past midnight Monday. However, the negotiating deadline was delayed several times to allow for more talks.

“I want to thank our members and the travelling public for their patience and support, while we continued to negotiate past the strike deadline to achieve this agreement,” said Scott Doherty, Unifor’s lead negotiator and executive assistant to the national president, in a statement.

Via said if the deal is ratified, it will be retroactive to the start of this year and run through Dec. 31, 2024.

“VIA Rail is pleased to have negotiated these agreements and recognizes the hard work of both parties during this process. We sympathize with the passengers and communities whose plans have been impacted in the past couple of days due to the uncertainty caused by this potential strike,” said Martin Landry, Via’s president and chief executive, in a release.