Picket lines have gone up at six grain terminals in Metro Vancouver as about 600 workers begin a strike.

Canadasa国际传媒檚 labour minister, meanwhile, says he spoke with both the employer and representatives of Grain Workers Union Local 333 on Monday, and they have agreed to resume contract negotiations alongside federal mediators.

Steven MacKinnon posted the message on the social media platform X, saying Canadian farmers had a sa国际传媒渂umper cropsa国际传媒� and they need to get it to market.

Union president Douglas Lea-Smith says the labour ministersa国际传媒檚 involvement is a positive step, and there is a meeting scheduled Wednesday between the union and the employer to try to resolve the sa国际传媒渋mpassesa国际传媒� arising from bargaining so far.

Lea-Smith says the employer, the Vancouver Terminal Elevators Association, had not sa国际传媒渕eaningfully engagedsa国际传媒� during a dozen days of bargaining ahead of further negotiations with help from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

A statement issued by the Shipping Federation of Canada over the weekend said the union and the association concluded conciliation with help from the federal service on Aug. 26, but could not come to an agreement on a new contract.

The affected operations include Viterrasa国际传媒檚 Cascadia and Pacific Terminals, Richardson International Terminal, Cargill Limited Terminal, G3 Terminal Vancouver and Alliance Grain Terminal, all located in Vancouver and North Vancouver.

The union has said it provided the employer with a sa国际传媒渃omprehensive packagesa国际传媒� last Thursday, but the next day, the association indicated it had no counter offer.

But Lea-Smith said the association released a sa国际传媒渇ull proposalsa国际传媒� directly to workers, sidestepping the union.

sa国际传媒淭hey just walked right around us because they believe that we donsa国际传媒檛 represent our members, even though wesa国际传媒檙e elected by our members,sa国际传媒� he said.

The major sticking point in the negotiations relates to time in lieu, he said.

sa国际传媒淭here are some minor monetary issues, but for the most part, itsa国际传媒檚 largely over earned time-off days, which we call lieu days,sa国际传媒� he said.

Lea-Smith said the employer is trying to remove lieu days, and the strike action will continue in order to apply pressure at the bargaining table.

The lieu days stretch back to binding arbitration in 2002, when the workers moved to an round-the-clock operation, he said.

sa国际传媒淕rain workers in 2002, on a pro rata basis, compared to today, earned more money than we do,sa国际传媒� he said.

Itsa国际传媒檚 the first time the union local has gone on strike since about 1970, he said.