After two and a half months of strike, Hydro Ottawa employees finally reached an agreement with their employer.

Hydro Ottawa Limited’s more than 300 employees, represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), are expected to return to work on Wednesday morning after union members voted 57 per cent in favor of the deal on Monday evening.

According to the union, the agreement provides for a 14.5% increase over four years as well as other improvements.

I think we got a pretty good dealsaid Mike Hall, representative of Local 636 of the IBEW.

One of the main concerns for union members is safety, Hall added. We have received a commitment from the company to address these issues, but time will tell what that will entailhe added.

The memorandum of understanding, which results in a four-year collective bargaining agreement, was also ratified by Hydro Ottawa.

However, in a message to its customers, the company asks them to be patient.

We are aware that some of our customers would like to undertake or complete projects whose outcome depends on us. Although the industrial dispute has now ended, delays to our services are expected to continue as our teams deal with a backlog of appointments and requests. We have developed a plan to address any service requests that are delayed due to the strike. We are also actively working to reschedule any outstanding appointments.

Hydro Ottawa provides electricity to more than 355,000 homes and businesses in Ottawa and Casselman.

On June 28, Hydro Ottawa employees went on strike. The previous collective bargaining agreement for Hydro Ottawa employees ended on March 31, 2023.

With information from Benjamin Vachet and Joe Tunney from CBC News