Job action was called off at Victoria Shipyards early Monday afternoon after union negotiators and the company reached a tentative agreement.
The proposal will be presented to workers represented by 10 unions this week. No date was immediately available.
The tentative agreement came at a critical time for the shipyard because the Canadian submarine HMCS Victoria is set to arrive on Wednesday for a refit.
An overtime ban had been imposed first thing Monday morning by the union, as the first stage of job action.
Victoria Shipyards works out of the federally owned Esquimalt Graving Dock, carrying out work for a range of customers, with huge contracts at times valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars. It has upgraded navy frigates, worked on sa国际传媒’s submarines, and carried out refits on cruise ships.
Numbers rise and fall depending on the jobs underway, but last year saw 1,400 union members working at the shipyard.
The company is owned by North Vancouver-based Seaspan.
Although the mediator booked out, both sides communicated during the weekend, and the company returned with a better offer, Robert Taylor, bargaining agent for the group of unions, said Monday. Local 191 of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers negotiates on behalf of all the trades.
The company removed some contentious items from earlier proposals, including an alternative work schedule and a plan to eliminate the second coffee break of the day, Taylor said.
Also gone is a proposal to remove seniority, he said, adding Victoria Shipyards also improved its monetary offer.
Details of the proposal were not released.
