Railway Avoids Strike, to Relief of US Retailers
Candian National Railway and Unifor, the union representing its domestic employees, struck a last-minute deal yesterday, preventing a work stoppage that would have wreaked further havoc on American ports. Details of the resolution are being kept under wraps at the moment, but will be released sometime in the next three weeks. The news will please managers of West Coast ports, which just late last week resolved their own labor dispute and resumed normal operations. CN is Canada's largest railway and a crucial mover of commodities and other goods, including cars.
Last week, 3K employees of fellow railway Canaidan Pacific went back to work after a labor stoppage that concerned US retailers dependent on the trade route. Reuters reports that it will take six to eight weeks to clear American ports of backlogged containers.
