Contract deal reached for Vancouver dock workers

[Omaha Steve]

http://ca.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idCAN2534955920080125

Fri Jan 25, 2008 6:54pm EST

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - A tentative three-year contract deal has been reached with longshore workers in Vancouver, Canada's busiest port.

The British Columbia Maritime Employers Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union reached the agreement late on Thursday, according to a note posted on the employer bargaining group's Web site.

A notice on a union Web site on Friday also said an agreement had been reached and was subject to a vote by union's contract executive board and caucus before going to a vote by workers. A date for the votes was not given.

Financial terms of the agreement were not immediately available.

The previous contract expired at the end of March last year, but the workers would not have been in a legal position to strike until next month.

Representatives of the employers and union were not available for comment.

(Reporting Allan Dowd, Editing by Rob Wilson)