St. Lawrence Seaway workers ratify three-year collective agreement

St. Lawrence Seaway workers have ratified a new collective agreement.

A tentative agreement was reached on Sunday between the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. and Unifor, with help from federal mediators.

Unifor says the three-year deal includes annual wage increases of five per cent, four per cent and four per cent, retroactive to April 1, 2023, along with a $2,000 signing bonus.

The agreement covers about 360 workers on the St. Lawrence Seaway, a major trade route connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean.

A strike shuttered operations in the seaway for about a week in late October.

The seaway management corporation says it has been working to clear the backlog of waiting vessels since employees returned to the job on Monday morning.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 2, 2023.