VICTORIA — Striking truckers at Port Metro Vancouver will be back on the job Thursday morning, under a tentative deal brokered at the B.C. legislature.

Premier Christy Clark made the announcement after a flurry of negotiations in legislature committee rooms involving several Liberal cabinet ministers and representatives from more than 1,500 union and non-union truckers.

"This agreement means our port is now open for business again starting tomorrow morning," Clark said.

B.C. will now abandon its back-to-work legislation for the 250 unionized truckers represented by Unifor.

"You shouldn't have a fight if you can get a deal," said Clark. "We got a deal instead and we're delighted by it."

Truckers who go back to the job will soon get more cash for moving containers. The federal government agreed to boost trip rates by 12 per cent over 2006 rates within 30 days. The rates apply to all moves of containers, whether they're full or empty.

The Government of Canada also agreed to regulate a benchmark minimum rate for hourly drivers — anticipated to be $25.13 for new hires and $26.28 for drivers with one year of service.

Truckers will also gain from a new escalating fee arrangement for wait times at the port. After 90 minutes of waiting, owner-operators will be paid $50. By two hours that fee increases by another $25. At two-and-a-half hours another $25 will go to the drivers, and every half-hour after that they'll receive $20.

Clark said all parties had to sit down and look each other in the eye to realize ultimately they weren't far from a deal.

Unifor president Jerry Dias said truckers came to the legislature on Wednesday with the intent to announce they would defy back-to-work legislation. But over the course of six to seven hours managed to hammer out a deal.

"The outcome is an outcome we'd been looking for all along," said Dias. "It's not just a solution for the short term, it's a solution for the long term."

Mediator Vince Ready now has 90 days to meet with each of the parties to review and finalize the terms.

Clark said many of the issues on the table, including waiting times at the port, were under the responsibility of the federal government, but B.C. felt it had to get involved to bridge the gap.

Dias blasted Ottawa and federal Transport Minister Lisa Raitt for not helping.

"They weren't going to find the solution," he said. "Their solution was take it or leave it. It's very important the government here today stood forward and took a leadership role because if we were waiting for the feds to find a solution the port would still be down tomorrow."

There were no details on how long the deal would be for, with that to be hammered out by Ready.

The tentative deal addresses "all the contentious issues," said Dias.

Raitt said in a news release the federal government is "pleased that truckers have agreed to get back to work."

"Our economic prosperity, competitiveness and ability for our products to reach new markets depends on a well functioning port," she said, adding that the government would work with the province and the port to make sure "truckers get back to work and keep our economy on track."