Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan announced that the cabinet is anticipating the official approval of an agreement to end the 13-day strike at the BC ports on Friday. . Seamus .O'Regan told reporters that there would not be another strike..“I feel very confident in the deal, but right now, it’s up to the membership,” said O’Regan. .“And I think at some point down the line we are going to have to a very, I think, careful and thoughtful look about how this is structured.”.“We can’t have it happen again,” said O’Regan. .“We cannot go through this again. It has tied up a lot of suppliers. It has tied up a lot of businesses and I’m quite conscious of that.”.Neither the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association nor the International Longshore & Warehouse Union disclosed any legal text of the tentative contract. .According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the last agreement that expired on March 31 included base pay of $48.23 an hour..“British Columbia ports are open right now,” said O’Regan. .“That’s very important to remember. The vote will be held Friday and I have a great respect for the members’ decision on this.”.On July 13, O'Regan stated that the government did not want any more disruptions, but he did not say that federal ports should be declared an essential service that cannot go on strike..“The scale of this disruption has been significant,” said O’Regan. .“We do not want to be back here again.”.On July 21, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the government could not have any more disruptions at the ports on the West Coast. The shutdown that happened this month was the longest one since 1972, which ended with federal legislation..“The impact on workers, on families, on businesses right across the country of this prolonged strike has been significant and is a real problem,” said Trudeau. .According to a Port of Vancouver estimate, the port was losing $800 million every day. However, this number was not verified. The Port of Vancouver deals with more than 140 million tonnes of cargo annually, including grain, coal, potash, and 334,000 vehicles..“The best deals are always found through negotiations at the bargaining table and that is what we are focused on but we also know this strike could not continue,” said Trudeau. .“We are glad to see the Union is reconsidering the good offer that was on the table and the agreement that was reached.”.In 2021, Parliament passed back-to-work legislation to stop a strike by workers at the Port of Montréal. They did the same thing in 2018 when postal workers went on strike.
