Rocanville mine to be temporarily closed
The world’s largest fertilizer company says it plans to temporarily lay off around 550 people and halt production at its flagship potash mine due to the ongoing Canadian National Railway Co. strike.
Workers at Nutrien Ltd.’s Rocanville mine east of Regina learned Monday morning that they face two weeks off work beginning Dec. 2. That left many feeling very uncertain, according to the head of their union.
“People are a little on edge. There’s a lot of upset people. … It is two weeks. Hopefully that’s all it is. But I’m not guaranteeing people that’s all it will be, because we don’t know,” said United Steelworkers Local 7916 president Jeremy Wray.
Around 3,200 conductors, trainspersons and yard workers represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference went on strike last week after failing to reach an agreement with CN over safety issues, including adequate rest for workers.
Wray acknowledged that it’s tricky to show solidarity with the TCRC’S desire for safer working conditions while facing a layoff Nutrien attributes to the railway workers’ decision to strike.
“We definitely support the CN strike, especially over safety issues,” he said.
The strike coincides with a period of weakness for the potash industry, which has been buffeted by poor weather in the American Midwest, China’s suspension of potash shipments and other drags on global fertilizer demand.
Nutrien spokesman Will Tigley said in an email that the strike has affected most of Nutrien’s facilities — it operates six of the 10 potash mines in the province — “to varying degrees.”
“However, thankfully, thus far we have been able to manage through this crisis without impacting workers by slowing down production,” except at Rocanville, Tigley said.
In a prepared statement, Nutrien CEO Chuck Magro called the decision to strike “extremely disappointing” and said it will “add further hardship to the Canadian agriculture industry,” which has already been affected by weather and trade uncertainty.
“Any further disruption will be harmful to our business, the Canadian economy, and Canada’s competitive position and reputation as a reliable supplier of fertilizer and food,” Magro said.
“However, most concerning is the impact on our hundreds of employees for whom this creates great uncertainty and hardship leading up to the holiday season.”
Nutrien’s predecessor, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., spent billions on a major expansion at Rocanville, its lowest-cost operation. Wray said that meant there hasn’t been a layoff at the site in about a decade.
“Over 55 per cent of our members are five years or less (in the industry) so a lot of people that work here have never seen a layoff before (but) I don’t think it ever does (get easier). It’s still money out of your pocket,” he said.
Mosaic Co., which relies on CN to move potash through Canpotex Ltd., the international sales company it co-owns with Nutrien, is “concerned about any disruption to our shipments, especially after a very challenging 2019,” said spokeswoman Sarah Fedorchuk.
The company is keeping its eye on inventory levels but is “hopeful” production can be managed given that its Esterhazy mine is in a “vacation outage” and its Colonsay operation is indefinitely shut down, Fedorchuk said.
“We hope to see a speedy negotiated settlement. Now that we are in a strike, we expect the government of Canada to act quickly to protect Canada’s potash exports.”
Farm groups and the Saskatchewan government have also called on Ottawa to take “immediate action” to resolve the strike. Premier Scott Moe said last week that the federal government should consider back-to-work legislation.
While previous federal governments have legislated rail workers back to work, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed an unwillingness to do so during the short Canadian Pacific Ltd. strike in the spring of 2018.
“Quite frankly, we have companies that have gotten used to the fact that in certain industries, the government in the past was very quick to legislate against unions. ... We are not going to do that,” Trudeau said at the time.