St. Lawrence Seaway Strike Ends, Opening Up Key Waterway

An agreement was announced October 29 that ended a strike by 360 Canadian dockworkers that had shut down the St. Lawrence Seaway, a key waterway and one that is becoming more important to agriculture shipments.

The workers in Ontario and Quebec were members of Unifor, Canada’s largest service union. They had struck October 22 over disagreements with the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, which manages the waterway. The issue concerned only Canadian workers, but the strike shut down 13 key locks between Lake Erie and Montreal, thereby shutting the whole system down.

Seaway management said vessels would begin moving October 30 when workers returned. “We have in hand an agreement that’s fair for workers and secures a strong and stable future for the Seaway,” CEO Terence Bowles said in an October 29 statement.

The strike happened during one of the seaway’s busiest times of the year. Observers estimated each day of closure cost $100 million. In August, a $40 million agriculture export facility opened on Jones Island in Milwaukee, Wis., from where commodities, including dried distillers’ grain, corn and soybeans, move through the port to international waters.