OTTAWA: A strike at Canada’s largest railroad, Canadian National Railway Co., has forced one fertiliser company to set a date to curtail production and is threatening to slow agricultural exports with at least 30 vessels waiting at Canada’s West Coast to load grain shipments.

As the strike by some 3,200 unionised employees entered its seventh day on Monday, labor union Team­sters Canada said it was no closer to an agreement than when the strike began.

Striking conductors and yard workers are demanding improved working conditions, including worker rest breaks in what is Canada’s biggest rail strike in a decade.

Nutrien Ltd said on Monday it was preparing to shut down its largest potash mine, Rocanville, for two weeks effective December 2 because of the CN strike.

Mark Hemmes, president of Quorum Corporation which monitors the movement of prairie grain for the Canadian government, told Reuters there were 21 ships parked in the Port of Vancouver as of Friday and nine anchored at the Port of Prince Rupert, in northern British Columbia.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2019