(Reuters) – Dock workers in Western Canada voted to accept an improved labor contract after a month-long dispute that affected trade and disrupted operations at the country’s busiest ports, their union said on Friday.
The vote was 74.66% in favor of the terms of the settlement, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) said in a statement.
Disagreements in contract negotiations have disrupted billions of dollars in trade, raising concerns about fueling inflation.
The government had directed the Canada Industrial Relations Board to resolve the dispute after workers rejected a previous contract. Ottawa was seeking to keep two of Canada’s three busiest ports – Vancouver and Prince Rupert – open.
The union provisionally agreed to a new contract on Sunday, averting an immediate strike, but the agreement needed to be approved by workers.
The ILWU, which represents about 7,500 dock workers, had been negotiating for months with the employers, the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association.
Disagreements over pay and a proposal to expand the union’s jurisdiction to regular maintenance work on terminals led to a 13-day strike in July.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren and Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and William Mallard)
