Andrew Dawson, of the Building and Construction Trades Council, says protesters have to stop for talks to continue. (CBC)Tradespeople in Saint John have reached a tentative deal with contractors at the Canaport liquefied natural gas terminal, and individual workers are being told it's time to end their protests.

High-level talks this week have helped the two sides reach some understanding, said Andrew Dawson, the Atlantic Canadian representative for the Building and Construction Trades Council.

"We've got the framework for a deal here to resolve the immediate problem, which is the protesting, the escalation of the protests. I've heard anecdotal reports of broken windows and this sort of thing on the bus" that transports out-of-province workers to the site, he said.

'If these workers are still gonna be performing their work at the LNG site, then we still plan on protesting every morning.' —Mike Duncan, laid-off electrician

"The safety of the public being paramount in all of this — the unease, I think, of the general population in Saint John as to what's happening in their city — sort of prompted everyone here to get together and at least map a road map out of this thing for us."

In the past few months, hundreds of workers have staged various protests saying Canaport LNG contractors are using out-of-province workers when the jobs should be going to local people. Police have been called and a judge granted an injunction barring protesters from a hotel where the out-of-province workers were staying.

Mike Duncan, a laid off electrician, says he won't stop protesting until the out-of-province workers go home. (CBC)Mike Duncan, an electrician who had been working on the LNG project for about a year but got laid off in June, hasn't changed his position on the issue. He was out protesting again Friday.

Duncan, the unofficial spokesman for the protesters, said he doesn't know the details of the deal but he's not willing to compromise.

"If these workers are still gonna be performing their work at the LNG site, then we still plan on protesting every morning," he said.

The $1-billion terminal, which officially opened Sept. 24, is the first of its kind to be built in Canada and the first land-based LNG-receiving and re-gasification terminal built on the East Coast of North America in 30 years.

Most of the protesters are union members who were laid off after building the first two enormous LNG gas containment tanks at the terminal, owned by Irving-Repsol.

SNC Lavalin, the company hired to manage construction, laid off many of the workers in September and an Alberta company, Integral Energy Services Ltd., was hired to build a third tank, bringing in workers from that province.

Contractors not commenting

SNC Lavalin and Integral both declined to comment on the deal. There was one indication things may be changing, however — Integral Energy is now running a help wanted ad in the local newspaper.

"So what we have now is we're reaching out to the members and to the workers and to the unemployed workers to say, 'Look, public safety is starting to be a major concern here.' We are in meaningful discussions with SNC and with Integral, and I think both sides have agreed to sort of wind down their propaganda campaigns here and let's get to the heart of the matter," Dawson said.

"So where we're at right now is we do have a signed piece of paper.…There are some holes to fill in and some things that both sides need to do in order for everything to take effect, but that's what we're doing this morning."

Details about the deal could be released next week after further discussions, Dawson said.

He may also be in a better position at that time to explain to the public how the protests came about, he added.