Prairie grain will continue to flow through the northern British
Columbia port of Prince Rupert despite the lockout of grain workers in
the Vancouver grain terminals.
On Nov. 21 the Prince Rupert Grain terminal management and the
Grainworkers Union negotiating committee came to a tentative labour
agreement.
“The union negotiations committee is unanimously recommending
acceptance to the union executive and its membership of the agreement,”
said Jeff Burghardt, general manager of Prince Rupert Grain the day
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after the late night bargaining session.
Burghardt said negotiators worked through to the wee hours of the
morning to get a settlement that union members are expected to ratify
by Nov. 28.
“The union and company both acknowledge this agreement is in the best
interests of the employees and members of the union,” Burghardt said.
“We look forward to this bringing about good things for the Prince
Rupert Grain employees and stability of both throughput and employment
for the employees.”
The two sides will still meet in mid-December for a Canada Labour
Relations Board hearing to deal with a common employer application.
Terminals in Vancouver and Prince Rupert are owned by the same grain
companies. The workers at Vancouver have been locked out since August.
Burghardt said the new collective agreement would put aside future
picketing issues.
“This agreement will be in force if it’s ratified. It will have to be
dealt with as a lawful agreement and it will limit the rights of people
to picket if this agreement is in force.”
As of last week, no discussions were planned between the B.C. Terminal
Elevator Operations and the Vancouver Grainworkers Union.
Members of the Grainworkers Union were not available for comment.
