Leaders from Western Forest Products and the United Steelworkers union will return to negotiations tomorrow in Nanaimo.
Local union president Brian Butler said he’s hopeful something can get done for the 3,000 striking coastal forest workers who have been off work since Canada Day.
The session will be mediated by veteran negotiator Vince Ready and assistant Amanda Rogers.
Butler said the major issues are alternate shifts, which allow the company to compress work weeks and extend working hours in the logging and manufacturing divisions, and a drug and alcohol policy that the union says targets workers rather than helping them.
He said the strike, now in its 24th week, has taken a financial toll on communities and forestry contractors on the Island, with his members taking the biggest hit. But they remain committed to the cause.
