B.C. port strike ends. Now what?

With a tentative deal reached, the BC Maritime Employers Association says work is underway to resume operations at the province’s ports as soon as possible.

However, despite the end to the nearly-half-a-month-long strike, business and industry groups say the economic loss is sure to be felt for some time.

Greater Vancouver Board of Trade (GVBoT) President and CEO Bridgitte Anderson says getting things back to normal won’t happen immediately.

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“But, you know, we have to be patient and understand that it’s going to take some time — weeks even — for our normal operations to resume. So it is going to take some time as we wait to see things come back on shelves and for operations to come back to normal,” she told CityNews.

Her reaction came just moments after the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 502 and the BC Maritime Employers Association announced a tentative agreement was reached Thursday morning.

That came after both sides were given a set of recommendations by federal mediators, who were appointed by Canada’s labour minister.

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Related articles: 

• B.C. port strike: Union says tentative deal reached

• B.C. port strike has disrupted nearly $9B in trade: business, industry groups

• B.C. port strike could affect supply chain for months: expert

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Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan chimed in following news of the deal, thanking those mediators for their involvement.

“The scale of this disruption has been significant,” he wrote. “The extent of it has shown just how important the relationship between industry and labour is to our national interest. Our supply chains and our economy depend on it. We do not want to be back here again. Deals like this, made between parties at the collective bargaining table, are the best way to prevent that. They are the best way to preserve the long-term stability of Canada’s economy.

“But we do not want to be back here again,” the labour minister added.

The strike is over.

The BCMEA and the ILWU have accepted the Terms of Settlement from federal mediators. The parties have reached a tentative agreement.

Statement from Minister Alghabra & me: pic.twitter.com/bCzlQiGsZR

— Seamus O'Regan Jr (@SeamusORegan) July 13, 2023

Anderson is also underscoring the significant impact the strike has had.

“My understanding is that there’s about 18 cargo ships waiting to be unloaded in queue, if you will, in Vancouver and Prince Rupert. What that means is delays of all kinds of things that you might see on the shelf,” she said.

Meanwhile, Dan Kelly, president and CEO of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, says it’s imperative port workers get back on the job as soon as possible.

“It needs to happen right away. It isn’t clear when port workers will be back to work, when things will be open again, but what is clear is that we’re going to have months of backlog to deal with,” he told CityNews.

On Wednesday, business and industry groups announced a Port Shutdown Calculator which suggested the nearly two-week-long strike has disrupted about $9 billion worth of trade.

Experts have also said that every day the strike continued, an additional week was added on to recovery time.

John Coray with the Freight Management Association of Canada previously said it could be October before port supply chains return to normal.

Given the deal still has to be ratified, no details about the agreement have been made public at this time.

-With files from Liza Yuzda and Monika Gul