The following is from today's edition of "montrealgazette.com".

Longshoremen will return to work Saturday morning at the Port of Montreal, ending a lockout that has idled Canada's second largest port since Monday.

Union president Daniel Tremblay said his members voted unanimously Friday to accept the back-to-work protocol negotiated with the help of a federal mediator Thursday night.

Both the union, representing about 850 longshoremen and women, and the employer have agreed to stop pressure tactics and to begin intensive contract negotiations.

The Longshoremen's' Union, Local 375 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, has been without a contract since Dec. 31, 2008.

The Maritime Employers Association, which represents shipping companies and negotiates with port workers in various Canadian ports, locked out the workers because union pressure tactics, they said, were causing an unacceptable level of uncertainty at the port.

It has agreed to reinstate a revenue guarantee program for about 169 of its most recent hires and part-time dockworkers, resolving an issue that led to an overtime ban.