Back-to-work legislation to halt a day-old strike by engineers and conductors at Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) is scheduled for introduction Monday in the House of Commons. Federal Labour Minister Kellie Leitch is booked on the Commons’ order paper for Monday to introduce “An Act to provide for the continuation and resumption of rail service operations.” […] Read more
Railway back-to-work legislation going to Commons
U.S. labour secretary to help reach West Coast port deal
Los Angeles | Reuters — U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez will travel to California to help broker an agreement between shipping companies and dockworkers in a dispute that has led to a partial shutdown of ports along the U.S. West Coast, the White House said on Saturday. The move by the Obama administration came after […] Read more
S. Korea blocks Canadian beef again over BSE case
Seoul | Reuters –– South Korea has halted imports of Canadian beef after Canada on Friday confirmed its first case of mad cow disease since 2011, the South Korean agriculture ministry said. South Korea was seeking more information about the outbreak and discussing public safety with relevant authorities, the ministry said in a statement. The […] Read more
CP’s engineers, conductors on strike
Engineers, conductors, trainmen and yardmen for Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) are on strike after 11th-hour talks ended Saturday night without a new agreement. “Picket lines are now being set up across Canada and the rail shutdown is happening,” Doug Finnson, president of the workers’ union, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), said in a release […] Read more
CN reaches tentative labour deal with engineers
Canadian National Railway’s (CN) 1,800-odd locomotive engineers will remain on the job until April at least, after tentatively agreeing to a new three-year labour deal with the company. The agreement, reached Saturday, now goes to a ratification vote for the unionized engineers, represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC). Vote results are expected to […] Read more
U.S. approves first biotech apple that resists browning
Reuters — U.S. regulators on Friday approved what would be the first commercialized biotech apple, rejecting efforts by the organic industry and other GMO critics to block the new fruit. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) approved two genetically engineered apple varieties designed to resist browning that have been […] Read more
U.S. farmers hit hard by labour strife at West Coast ports
Los Angeles | Reuters –– Protracted labour strife and shipping disruptions at U.S. West Coast ports have hit farmers especially hard, posing a major barrier to perishable goods headed to overseas markets and resulting in losses estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars a week. Foreign Pacific Rim customers facing chronic delays in shipments of […] Read more
Officials chasing down unknowns in new BSE case
The cow confirmed Thursday as Canada’s 19th domestic case of BSE, and just its third case in the past five years, is still somewhat of a stranger to federal officials. Representatives with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), on a conference call Friday, said they haven’t yet confirmed the cow’s age, its past travels or […] Read more
U.S. livestock: CME live cattle up on cash price hopes, BSE report
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures posted significant gains on Friday, in anticipation of higher cash prices and short-covering before Monday’s Presidents Day holiday in the U.S., traders said. News of Canada’s first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) since 2011 provided further support to CME live cattle contracts, they said. […] Read more
U.S. grains: Soybeans, corn, wheat rally to end week
Chicago | Reuters –– U.S. soybean futures rose for the third consecutive day on Friday as demand for U.S. stocks of the oilseed remained strong while overseas buyers waited for supplies from the South American harvest to hit the market, traders said. Wheat futures jumped on a round of short covering but remained stuck in […] Read more