Yesterday, the Honourable Seamus O'Regan Jr., Minister of Labour, and the Honourable Omar Alghabra, Minister of Transport, issued the following statement regarding the collective bargaining negotiations between the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Canada:
"Last week, after 13 days of work stoppage, Minister O'Regan asked federal mediators to provide recommendations on the terms of a settlement between the BCMEA and the ILWU Canada. Both parties tentatively agreed to this settlement to bring an end to the strike.
Today, we received formal notice from the BCMEA that their membership had accepted this deal in full. However, we were also informed that, despite initially agreeing to recommend the Terms of Settlement, the ILWU Canada's leadership had decided not to recommend ratification of the terms to their members.
Workers and employers across Canada cannot face further disruption on the scale we saw last week. Therefore, we are looking at all options. We will have more to say on this tomorrow.
We should not be here. The deal presented to the parties was the result of a constructive and substantive collective bargaining process. It represented a fair and balanced deal. It was informed by weeks of collective bargaining and drafted by third-party mediators in the interest of both the union and the employer.
We have been patient. We have respected the collective bargaining process. But we need our ports operating."
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Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service
