The looming strike by more than 3,000 CP Rail employees has many in southeast Canada wondering how they will be impacted says a report at DiscoverWeyburn.com. For producers in the Weyburn, Saskatchewan area, they are looking at how their grain will get to market from terminals like Parrish & Heimbecker.
Doug Wiebe is the location manager of P&H in Weyburn. He has been following the progress himself. He explained if there is a strike by the two unions which shuts down the rail line, there isn't a contingency plan.
“With the rail here, we only have access to CP Rail, we’re not on a CN line too, so CP Rail is the only way we can logistically move any grain out of our elevators, so, unfortunately, we don’t have another way of moving it,” Wiebe told Discover Weyburn.
With many terminals across the region already facing a grain backlog, the impacts could be disastrous for producers.
“Whatever grain is sitting in the elevator will stay there; if we get completely full it will stay there, and there won’t be movement until this is resolved,” said Wiebe.
For producers, many will feel an economic impact from the strike. Many rely on contracts with grain companies, which a lot of times are positioned to be able to pay bills, or to use the money to assist with the current crop, Wiebe explained. With no grain leaving the elevators, it means the producers are getting paid.
The lack of movement of grain from the terminal has an impact on companies like Parrish & Heimbecker as well.
“We need to be able to bring grain in, and ship it out of here, based on contracts to keep the grain flowing so the farmers are not only getting paid when they need to get paid, and have some cash flow, but same with the elevator companies too; we rely on moving grain to get paid,” elaborated Wiebe.
The strike by the two unions, which represent conductors, engineers and signal maintainers, could start as early as Saturday at 12:01 a.m. The Teamsters union, which represents the conductors and locomotive engineers, gave official strike notice on Wednesday.
