Tentative deal reached to end strike at St. Lawrence Seaway authority, Unifor says

Unifor says it has reached a tentative agreement with the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. during negotiations to end a strike that began Oct. 22.

The premiers of Ontario and Quebec had called on Ottawa to intervene if the federally mediated talks failed to bring about a quick end to the walkout by 360 Unifor members at most of the seaway’s 15 locks.

But on Sunday evening, both the union and the seaway authority issued statements saying a tentative deal had been achieved.

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Unifor says details of the tentative agreement will first be shared with members and will be made public once it has been ratified in a vote that will be scheduled in the coming days.

The Seaway Management Corp. says it will begin to implement its recovery program immediately and will start “passing ships progressively” as of Monday.

It says employees will be back on the job by 7 a.m.

The seaway, which runs for 300 kilometres between Lake Erie and Montreal, carried $16.7 billion worth of cargo last year, much of it grain, iron ore, stone and road salt.