Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - A week-long strike that had shut down a major shipping artery in the Great Lakes, along the St. Lawrence Seaway, ended with a tentative contract agreement Sunday.
Grain and other goods started flowing again on Monday.
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Unifor, the union representing over 300 striking seaway workers in Ontario and Quebec said a vote by the membership will be scheduled in the coming days.
St. Lawrence Seaway workers started striking on Oct. 22, shutting down a
marine shipping route between Lake Erie and Montreal that connects the Atlantic Ocean and Great Lakes. Many ships were waiting, at both ends, in Port Colborne and in Montreal.
All ships started moving again as of 7am Monday.
The strike shut down 13 locks on the seaway between Lake Erie and Montreal, bottling up ships and preventing others from coming in.
It's the first time that a strike has shut down the vital shipping artery in over 50 years.
The General Mills plant in Buffalo receives regular shipments of grain by lake freighter to make cereal. It was not impacted by the strike as most of its grain is shipped from Duluth, Minnesota to Buffalo, via the great lakes and does not need to traverse the Welland Canal.
Monday morning, close to two dozen ships and freighters were waiting in Port Colborne for the Welland Canal to reopen