A DEAL has been reached to end a week-long strike that had shut down the St Lawrence Seaway, halting the flow of grain from the US and Canada, reports the Associated Press
A DEAL has been reached to end a week-long strike that had shut down the St Lawrence Seaway, halting the flow of grain from the US and Canada, reports the Associated Press. Some 360 workers in Ontario and Quebec with Unifor, Canada's largest private-sector union, walked out October 22 in a dispute over wages with the St Lawrence Seaway Management Corp.
'We have in hand an agreement that's fair for workers and secures a strong and stable future for the Seaway,' said CEO Terence Bowles.
Unifor said a vote to ratify the deal will be scheduled in the coming days.
'Details of the tentative agreement will first be shared with members and will be made public once an agreement is ratified,' said a union statement.
The strike shut down 13 locks on the seaway between Lake Erie and Montreal, bottling up ships in the Great Lakes and preventing more ships from coming in.
The St Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes are part of a system of locks, canals, rivers and lakes that stretches more than 2,300 miles from the Atlantic Ocean to the western tip of Lake Superior in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
It carried over US$12 billion (C$17 billion) worth of cargo last year. Ships that travel it include oceangoing 'salties' and 'lakers' that stick to the lakes.
It's the first time that a strike has shut down the vital shipping artery since 1968.
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