VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA — A tentative labor agreement has been reached between the Grain Workers Union (GWU) Local 333 and Vancouver Terminal Elevators’ Association (VTEA) after workers went on strike at the Port of Vancouver Sept. 24.

Canadian Minister of Labour Steven MacKinnon announced the deal in a social media post on X (formerly known as Twitter), thanking the parties and federal mediators for putting in the work “to get Canada’s harvest to market.”

The union, which represents workers at the port’s grain terminals, and the VTEA, which is the employer bargaining unit for the Vancouver grain terminals, have been negotiating a new labor agreement since November 2023. The employer group of the VTEA also is represented by the Western Grain Elevator Association (WGEA).

The strike began at six grain terminals at the Port of Vancouver on Sept. 24 after the negotiating committee for about 600 employees with the union said the employers’ group had not “meaningfully engaged” in a dozen days of bargaining as the strike deadline loomed. 

The WGEA said negotiations, which had been stalled, were able to restart Sept. 27 under the auspices of a federal mediator. The WGEA said a tentative deal was reached late in the day, and it will run through to Dec. 31, 2027. 

Union members returned to work on Sept. 28, and a ratification vote on the agreement has been scheduled for Oct. 4, according to the GWU.

Six major grain facilities were affected by the strike, including Viterra’s Cascadia and Pacific Terminals, Richardson International Terminal, Cargill Ltd. Terminal, G3 Terminal Vancouver and Alliance Grain Terminal.