The union representing almost 1,500 Loomis Express workers in Canada said it has avoided a strike and reached a tentative agreement on a new contract with the logistics provider’s parent company, TransForce International.
The strike, which was set to begin at noon on Wednesday, would have affected company facilities across eight Canadian provinces.
“This tentative agreement leverages the power of a national union to set and raise standards across the country while allowing for provincial nuances in the operations,” Lana Payne, president of Unifor, said in a statement.
Loomis Express workers represented by Unifor include hourly drivers, owner-operators, call center staff, and clerical and warehouse workers. The Toronto-based company offers less-than-truckload, truckload and specialized truckload services, as well as package and courier and specialized services.
A major factor for the potential strike was TFI regularly “shuffling work between subsidiaries or contracting out to avoid providing workers with decent full-time jobs,” Unifor said.
TFI International (NYSE and TSX: TFII) is a transportation and logistics provider based in Montreal.
Unifor declined to provide details of the new contract between Loomis Express and TFI.
“Details of the tentative agreement will not be released prior to a ratification vote by members,” Unifor spokeswoman Kathleen O’Keefe told FreightWaves.
It will take about two weeks to schedule all of the votes on the new contract, Unifor said.
Unifor represents Loomis Express workers in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
Watch: FreightWaves’ carrier update for Aug. 31.
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