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St. Lawrence Seaway could shut down Friday if Canadian union workers walk off

Posted 10/29/14

By CRAIG FREILICH Canadian union Unifor members plan to walk off their jobs along the St. Lawrence Seaway just after noon Friday over lock automation if negotiations don’t succeed. The Canadian …

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St. Lawrence Seaway could shut down Friday if Canadian union workers walk off

Posted

By CRAIG FREILICH

Canadian union Unifor members plan to walk off their jobs along the St. Lawrence Seaway just after noon Friday over lock automation if negotiations don’t succeed.

The Canadian managers of the joint U.S.-Canadian Seaway, the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, are preparing a shutdown of the waterway locks if the workers follow through on their threat.

The union gave the Seaway 72-hour notice Tuesday, warning that 460 members between Niagara and Montreal would walk off the job to convince management that staffing levels at the locks should be maintained as the Seaway moves to hands-free mooring, eliminating the staff currently working on the locks. Unifor is calling for minimum staffing levels on the locks to deal with emergencies.

The Seaway announced in April that it had received funding from the Canadian federal government to automate locks along the Seaway, eliminating staff currently working on the locks. Work has already begun to retrofit Lock 3 on the Welland Canal with the new hands-free system. All locks across the Seaway are to be retrofitted by 2018, according to a press release from the union.

"We believe that having no one at the lock is not a good idea," said Unifor National Representative Joel Fournier. "The risk of an environmental disaster with all of the dangerous cargo going through the Seaway is very real."

Strike notice was served Tuesday at the resumption of contract talks in Cornwall, Ontario, the first time the two sides had met in months. Unifor filed for federal conciliation in August.

The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation says it is implementing a modernization program which incorporates Hands Free Mooring and Remote Lock Operation.

“This program is essential to ensuring that the Seaway can operate on a basis that is both safe and sustainable. Contrary to union allegations, the SLSMC is confident that it will continue to process ships through its locks in a safe and secure manner,” a press release from the corporation said.

As a result of UNIFOR’s strike notification, SLSMC says it has started implementing its plans for an orderly and safe shutdown of the system within the 72-hour notice period. Should the unionized workers proceed with strike action, as scheduled, the St. Lawrence Seaway will be closed to all traffic.

Workers at Eisenhower and Snell locks, operated by the U.S. St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, are not part of the Canadian union and do not have plans to walk off the job, but if the Seaway is shut down, there will be no traffic for them to handle.