Something happened last week that has not happened since 1968. A strike shut down 13 locks of the St. Lawrence Seaway between Lake Erie and Montreal trapping boats in the shipping artery and preventing others from entering on either end. 

Workers with Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector union, walked out on October 22nd. They were in a dispute over wages with the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. A deal was reached one week later on October 29th, but reflecting on the impact of the strike makes clear the under-discussed prowess of the Great Lakes economy.

The Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway carried over $12 billion of cargo in 2022; estimates were that the strike last week caused a loss of $100-110 million per day. On Wednesday, October 25th, Seaway management reported around 115 vessels that were stuck in the St. Lawrence river or Lake Ontario. Other vessels stalled included a U.S. Naval Warship, the littoral combat ship the USS Marinette, that sat in Cleveland’s port waiting to head into international waters.

This is a particularly busy time of year on the Lakes and Seaway given the fall harvest season. Of great concern was the hold-up of grain shipments that were headed to destinations around the globe. Grain shipments from the Great Lakes regions have been growing in recent years. In November 2022, the Great Lakes Seaway Partnership announced that grain shipments were up almost 25% from 2021. This increase is due in part to the war in Ukraine and changing climate patterns in other grain producing areas. 

An article in the Detroit Free Press last week during the strike reflected the wide economic impact: “We have grain that feeds the world that’s not moving. We have salt that goes on winter roads for safety that’s not moving. We have iron ore for steelmaking that’s not moving,” said Jason Card, spokesman for the binational Chamber of Marine Commerce in Ottawa.

While an article from Great Lakes Now reflected a very human position: “We want a fair and decent wage that shows the value our members bring. There’s a lot of labor unrest in North America right now and people are sick and tired of the ivory tower people getting everything while the rest of us get peanuts,” said Unifor spokesman John Hockey.

Economic interconnectedness reflects human interconnectedness. Human interconnectedness reflects the ways individual people understand how they, and their talents and labor, matter. May we always remain mindful of this as we navigate our daily lives and communities and ponder wider global dynamics.

Credit for all pictures today: pexels.com