CP Railroad to Lock Out Workers on Sunday

Canadian Pacific, one of the largest railroad companies in Canada, will bring operations to a halt this weekend after the company didn’t reach a labor deal with its workers. The company issued a notice to the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference that it will lock out employees early Sunday if the two sides can’t agree to a settlement or binding arbitration.

Bloomberg said the two sides are discussing a new agreement but “remain far apart.”

A disruption would create even more uncertainty in fertilizer markets just as farmers need nutrients for spring planting. Canada is one of the world’s biggest suppliers of potash that’s used in crop nutrients. Sanctions on Belarus and Russia after the Ukraine invasion have already caused a shortage in supplies and a rapid rise in prices. CP is the primary rail transportation provider for delivering potash mined in Saskatchewan to overseas markets, according to the provincial government.

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