An agreement between USW 1-1937 members and Western Forest Products was ratified at votes across the Island and coast on Thursday, Feb. 13 and Friday, Feb. 14. (Freepik)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

back to work

Strike over: WFP workers set for return after union ratifies new agreement

Feb 15, 2020 | 1:33 PM

NANAIMO — An almost eight month long strike is over for Island and coastal forestry workers.

United Steelworkers Union Local 1-1937 announced Saturday, Feb. 15 that members had ratified an agreement with Western Forest Products by 81.9 percent.

Contractors represented by Forest Industrial Relations also approved the deal by 93 per cent.

The agreement ends 229 days of strike action and sends around 3,000 forestry workers back to work for the first time since June 2019.

“Our membership has stood up and pushed back against a company that was bent on breaking our Local Union,” Brian Butler, local president said in a release.

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The deal includes a 12.5 per cent increase in the remaining time of the five year agreement. Increases to life insurance and health benefits are also included along with a variety of policy and language improvements.

Western Forest Products CEO Don Demens said Wednesday, Feb. 12, if the deal was ratified workers could be recalled to the job site as early as this week.

A tentative agreement was announced Monday, Feb. 10, days after mediators Vince Ready and Amanda Rogers left negotiations only to be ordered back by the province with enhanced powers to find a settlement.

Port McNeil was one of many small Island towns hit hard by the prolonged strike action. Mayor Gaby Wickstrom said in the wake of a tentative agreement, her town will take time to recover.

“You can’t go through seven and a half months with a reduction in your income such as it was for the members that were striking along with the other people caught in the collateral damage,” Wickstrom said.

There is no official word on when work will resume. The union said in a release they will coordinate start-up procedures with WFP in the coming days.

–with files from 97.3 The Eagle

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