Canadian Pacific reaches deal with union to end stoppage

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. said it will resume normal operations after it agreed to work with an arbitrator on a contract for 3,000 workers, ending a two-day work stoppage.

“This agreement enables us to return to work effective noon Tuesday local time to resume our essential services for our customers and the North American supply chain,” Chief Executive Officer Keith Creel said in a statement early Tuesday. Canadian Pacific rose 0.6% to C$101.74 at 9:40 a.m. in Toronto.

The strike in Canada, a top exporter of crops such as canola, disrupted shipments when supply chains are already stretched, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine worsening a food shortage. Canada is also a major supplier of potash used as fertilizer, with the bulk of shipments traveling by rail. Spring seeding is four to six weeks away in Canada and even sooner in the U.S., and the fertilizer industry had urged the government step in resolve the dispute.

Federal mediators were involved in the negotiations between the Calgary-based railway and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, which represents locomotive engineers, conductors and yard workers.