A strike by cleaners at Capilano University has been avoided after they reached a tentative deal with their employer.

The cleaners are employed by Best Service Pros, which provides cleaning services to the North Vancouver university.

The deal is the first collective bargaining agreement by the cleaners, who joined Local 2 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) last year.

The cleaners have been in negotiations since September.

“The cleaners will just need to vote on it and if the majority vote yes, it officially becomes their contract," SEIU organizer Christine Bro told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview.

The Capilano University cleaners were scheduled to go on strike Monday (February 19).

A tentative deal with Best Service Pros was reached late last Thursday (February 15).

According to Bro, the cleaners numbering around 30 are expected to vote on the agreement this weekend.

No details about the deal are available until after the union vote.

Delia Tanza, a cleaner and member of the bargaining committee, indicated in a media release that the deal represents a “victory” for the workers.

According to Tanza, Best Service Pros offered “something more than poverty wages”.

The cleaners voted unanimously on February 13, 2018 to go on strike if no deal was reached.

“The most rewarding part is the power we felt as workers knowing that we have the campus community behind us and that they were ready to stand next to us if we had to walk off the job,” Analou Espina,  another member of the bargaining committee, said in the news release.

The news release indicated that other unions at Capilano University had “committed to standing in solidarity with the cleaners and honouring their picket line”.

According to the media release, the strike could have shut down the campus in North Vancouver.