Government Regulation
August 23, 2024
Canada Rail Strike Update
Canadian Labor Minister Puts End To National Railroad Strike, Orders Arbitration
by Tyler Durden
Friday, Aug 23, 2024 – 08:35 AM
Authored by David Lassen via Trains.com,
The Canadian government has moved to end Canada’s freight rail work stoppage – the first to shut down both Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City simultaneously.
However, while the two railroads say they are preparing to resume operations after Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon sent the dispute to binding arbitration, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference says it will maintain picket lines while it reviews MacKinnon’s action.
And the CBC reports that MacKinnon’s move might not bring an immediate end to the lockouts of TCRC engineers and conductors that began at the two railroads at 12:01 a.m. today (Aug. 22).
Also locked out were rail traffic controllers at CPKC represented by the same union.
“These collective bargaining negotiations belong to CN Rail, CPKC and TCRC alone — but their effects, and the impacts of the current impasse, are being borne by all Canadians,” MacKinnon said.
“As Minister of Labour, it is my assessment that the parties are at a fundamental impasse. Therefore, it is my duty and responsibility to invoke my authorities under the Canada Labour Code to secure industrial peace and deliver the short and long-term solutions that are in the national interest.”
The existing contracts between the TCRC and both railways will be extended until new agreements are signed. Negotiated agreements are always preferable, MacKinnon said, but the needs of the nation outweighed the need for a contract deal reached at the bargaining table.
“Workers, farmers, commuters and businesses rely on Canada’s railways everyday, and will continue to do so. It is the government’s duty and responsibility to ensure industrial peace in this critically vital sector,” MacKinnon said.
“Thus, we will be examining why we experience repeated conflicts in the railway sector and the conditions that led to the parallel work stoppages we are seeing. Canadians can be assured that their government will not allow them to suffer when parties do not fulfill their responsibility. Especially where their livelihoods, worker safety, and communities are at stake.”
CN said in a statement this evening that it had ended its lockout as of 6 p.m. ET and initiated its recovery plan, acting in advance of a formal order from the Canada Industrial Relations Board “to expedite the recovery of the economy.
“While CN is satisfied that this labour conflict has ended and that it can get back to its role of powering the economy,” the railroad said in its statement, “the company is disappointed that a negotiated deal could not be achieved at the bargaining table despite its best efforts.
CPKC said it is preparing to restart operations and will provide further details about the timing once it receives the CIRB’s order.
“The Canadian government has recognized the immense consequences of a railway work stoppage for the Canadian economy, North American supply chains. and all Canadians,” CPKC CEO Keith Creel said in a statement.
“The government has acted to protect Canada’s national interest. We regret that the government had to intervene because we fundamentally believe in and respect collective bargaining; however, given the stakes for all involved, this situation required action.”
The TCRC said it was keeping picket lines in place while it reviewed MacKinnon’s move, the response by the CIRB, and sought legal counsel.
The union’s president, Paul Boucher, said the government’s action “allowed CN and CPKC to sidestep a union determined to protect rail safety. Despite claiming to value and honour the collective bargaining process, the federal government quickly used its authority to suspend it, mere hours after an employer-imposed work stoppage. … The two major railways in Canada manufactured this crisis, took the country hostage, and manipulated the government to once again disregard the rights afforded to working-class Canadians. “
Boucher called the decision “shameful” and said the government had made the decision “only because they knew their minority could not gather the support needed to pass a legislated resolution to appease the railways.”
Meanwhile, Lisa Raitt, labor minister under former prime minister Stephen Harper, told the CBC that the parties still have to agree to arbitration: “Maybe you can write to the CIRB and ask them to impose binding arbitration … but there’s no way a minister can write a letter and say that everyone goes back to work and I’m sending you to binding arbitration.”
MacKinnon said he is “confident” that his move will end the shutdown, but hedged in saying it would definitely do so, noting that the CIRB is an independent body.
“They have a process that requires consultation with the parties,” he said.
“They will be doing that and rendering a decision, I hope very quickly. … I want to be deferential to the process that will unfold.”
CN and CPKC had both sought arbitration to end the dispute, with MacKinnon last week denying a request from CN to require arbitration. At the time, MacKinnon said it was the “shared responsibility” of CN and the union to negotiate in good faith.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a post on X.com that while collective bargaining is preferred:
“When that is no longer a foreseeable option — when we are facing serious consequences to our supply chains and the workers who depend on it — governments must act.”
Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez, reacting to MacKinnon’s move, wrote on X.com that the government “is acting to preserve the stability and certainty that our entire economy is renowned for across the world.”
The premiers of two prairie provinces with economies heavily reliant on rail transport — Scott Moe of Saskatchewan and Danielle Smith of Alberta, who had both called for federal action — welcomed the intervention in comments on X.com.
Moe wrote that the government “took the appropriate action … to end the rail stoppage and ensure our Canadian products are moving to market again.”
Smith wrote that she was “pleased to see” that MacKinnon had taken action.
August 21, 2024
Non-Compete Update
Federal District Court Blocks Federal Trade Commission Final Rule on Non-Competes
On August 20, 2024, a judge in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a nationwide injunction barring the implementation of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) controversial final rule that would have prohibited non-competition agreements with workers.
The FTC adopted the final rule on April 23, 2024. With limited exceptions, the rule effectively would have banned all non-compete agreements – and provisions that functioned as non-competes – between businesses and virtually all workers as “unfair method[s] of competition.” The final rule also would have required companies to refrain from enforcing most existing non-compete agreements and to notify workers that any non-compete obligations were now unenforceable. The rule had been scheduled to take effect on September 4, 2024.
The FTC’s sweeping prohibition would have covered agreements with any worker, including employees, independent contractors, externs, interns, volunteers, apprentices, or sole proprietors who provide a service to a client or customer. In issuing the final rule, the FTC argued that non-competition clauses restrict workers’ freedom to change jobs, thus stifling competition and innovation. The agency claimed that non-competes often disadvantage workers, particularly those in low-wage positions, by limiting their opportunities for career advancement and wage growth.
In its August 20, 2024 ruling, the Texas federal court challenged the FTC’s authority to enact such a broad and all-encompassing regulation. The court expressed concerns that the FTC may have overstepped its legal boundaries by attempting to regulate employment contracts, which traditionally have been governed by state law. The ruling emphasized that employment law, including the enforcement or prohibition of non-compete agreements, has long been within the purview of individual states, rather than the federal government.
Since the publication of the final rule in April, it has been subject to various legal challenges, with mixed results. On July 3, 2024, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas had granted a limited preliminary injunction staying enforcement of the FTC’s final rule prohibiting non-compete clauses, but only as to the parties in that case, pending a final ruling on the merits. On August 20, 2024, the same court issued the significantly broader ruling described above.
What Should Businesses Do Now?
Businesses that were planning to comply with the FTC’s final rule by rewriting template agreements and issuing notices to current and former employees regarding the rule’s effects can now halt those efforts, as the non-compete rule will no longer take effect on September 4, 2024. However, given the increasing attention to non-compete agreements at the state and federal level, companies should maintain efforts to update and implement their restrictive covenant programs so that each worker agreement is narrowly tailored to protect only the organization’s legitimate business needs.
www.meainfo.org
July 9, 2024
Alkyl Phosphate Ester CVD Postponed
Certain Alkyl Phosphate Esters From the People’s Republic of China: Postponement of Preliminary Determination in the Countervailing Duty Investigation
A Notice by the International Trade Administration on 07/05/2024
AGENCY:
Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce.
DATES:
Applicable July 5, 2024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Benjamin Nathan or Gregory Taushani, Office II, AD/CVD Operations, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230, telephone: (202) 482-3834 or (202) 482-1012, respectively.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On May 13, 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) initiated a countervailing duty (CVD) investigation of imports of certain alkyl phosphate esters from the People’s Republic of China. Currently, the preliminary determination is due no later than July 17, 2024.
Postponement of Preliminary Determination
Section 703(b)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), requires Commerce to issue the preliminary determination in a CVD investigation within 65 days after the date on which Commerce initiated the investigation. However, section 703(c)(1) of the Act permits Commerce to postpone the preliminary determination until no later than 130 days after the date on which Commerce initiated the investigation if: (A) the petitioner makes a timely request for a postponement; or (B) Commerce concludes that the parties concerned are cooperating, that the investigation is extraordinarily complicated, and that additional time is necessary to make a preliminary determination. Under 19 CFR 351.205(e), the petitioner must submit a request for postponement 25 days or more before the scheduled date of the preliminary determination and must state the reasons for the request. Commerce will grant the request unless it finds compelling reasons to deny the request.
On June 21, 2024, the petitioner [1] submitted a timely request to postpone the preliminary determination in the investigation.[2] The petitioner stated that postponement of the preliminary determination is necessary because the current schedule does not provide Commerce with adequate time to fully analyze the forthcoming questionnaire responses of the mandatory respondents and issue supplemental questionnaires, as necessary.[3]
In accordance with 19 CFR 351.205(e), the petitioner submitted its request for postponement of the preliminary determination in this investigation 25 days or more before the scheduled date of the preliminary determination and stated the reasons for its request. Commerce finds no compelling reason to deny the request. Therefore, in accordance with section 703(c)(1)(A) of the Act, Commerce is postponing the deadline for the preliminary determination in this investigation to no later than 130 days after the date on which it initiated this investigation. The postponed deadline for the preliminary determination is September 20, 2024. Pursuant to section 705(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(1), the deadline for the final determination in this investigation will continue to be 75 days after the date of the preliminary determination.
This notice is issued and published pursuant to section 703(c)(2) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(f)(1).
Dated: June 28, 2024.
Ryan Majerus,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Negotiations, performing the non-exclusive functions and duties of the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
Footnotes
1. The petitioner is ICL-IP America, Inc. Back to Citation
2. See Petitioner’s Letter, “Request for Postponement of the Preliminary Determination,” dated June 21, 2024. Back to Citation
3. Id.
[FR Doc. 2024-14760 Filed 7-3-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P
July 8, 2024
Chinese Energy
China’s Rapid Renewables Rollout Hits Grid Limits
by Tyler Durden
Monday, Jul 08, 2024 – 02:45 AM
By John Kemp, senior energy analyst at Reuters
China’s record-breaking deployment of wind and solar capacity has worsened regional power imbalances, forcing the country to idle increasing amounts of renewable generation when it overwhelms local consumption.
New government regulations aim to reduce the amount of renewable generation that has to be abandoned by increasing long-distance transmission links and better coordinating generation plans across provinces.
Since the end of 2018, China’s total generating capacity has increased by 1.137 billion kilowatts (kW), compound annual growth of 9%, according to data from the National Bureau of statistics (NBS).
Thermal capacity, mainly from coal-fired plants but some from gas-fired generators, rose by 257 million kW or 4% per year (“China statistical yearbook”, NBS, 2023).
Most capacity additions, however, have come from what the government calls “new energy sources” – wind farms (277 million kW, 19% per year) and solar generators (517 million kW, 29% per year). Increased penetration of intermittent renewables is making it harder to manage a nationwide transmission system that was already struggling with large regional imbalances between generation and load.
The solution to variable wind and solar output is to smooth out fluctuations across a larger number of generators spread over much larger areas of the country, which will require more transmission and better scheduling.
Long-Distance Transmission
For decades, the country has been characterized by massive west-to-east electricity transfers from interior areas with surplus generation to the massive load centres on the east and south coasts. Ten provincial-level areas in the east and south (Liaoning, Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong) accounted for 50% of national consumption but only 40% of generation in 2022.
By contrast, six remote and sparsely populated northern and western areas (Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia) accounted for 18% of consumption but 25% of generation.
Chartbook: China regional electricity transfers
In response, China’s State Grid Corporation has constructed a network of ultra-high voltage transmission lines to move power thousands of kilometres from surplus areas in the west and north to deficit areas in the east and south.
In the process, China has become the world leader in ultra-high voltage transmission to move electricity over long distances while minimising line losses and is exporting its expertise around the world.
Inner Asia’s Energy Abundance
China’s northern and western areas are some of the least populated and poorest parts of the country, but rich in energy resources, traditionally coal but now increasingly gas and renewables.
The north and west contains the country’s most important coal deposits and has become a major centre of pit-head generation, with some electricity used locally by heavy industry, and the rest transmitted east and south.
Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Xinjiang alone accounted for 81% of coal mine production and 25% of all thermal generation in 2022, according to data from the NBS.
In a quirk of fate, the arid and windswept northern and western plains and deserts are also the best sites for giant wind farms and solar parks.
Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Xinjiang together with neighbouring Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai accounted for 42% of all wind and solar generation last year.
But the addition of so much wind and solar generation in a region already saturated with coal-fired power threatens to overwhelm the transmission system.
During peak periods of wind and solar generation, there is not enough population and industry in these areas to absorb all the output, and not enough long-distance transmission capacity to move the surplus east and south.
More Transmission And Planning
In 2016, the national utilisation rate for new energy sources fell to a record low of 84%, prompting the central government to launch a “Clean Energy Absorption Action Plan” to reduce the waste of renewable resources. The plan focused on improvements in local distribution, long-distance inter-provincial transmission, and energy trading to reduce the curtailment of new energy generation.
By 2023, the utilisation rate for wind power had climbed to a remarkable 97.3% and solar had reached 98%, according to the state-run news agency Xinhua.
With rapid deployment of renewable capacity, however, the problem of abandonment is re-emerging, with wind utilisation down to 96.1% and solar down to 96% in the first five months of 2024. Sliding utilisation has prompted an alert from the National New Energy Consumption Monitoring and Early Warning Center (“Solving the pain points and difficulties of new energy consumption”, Xinhua, July 1, 2024).
The response is likely to be similar, with renewed emphasis on integrating renewables at local level and more transmission capacity to move surplus power across provincial boundaries. In the last two years, central government policy statements have repeatedly focused on the need for better coordination of transmission and generation between provinces.
Creating A Truly National System
In a sign of the importance attached to the issue, the Communist Party’s Politburo held a group study session on new energy technology and energy security on February 29, 2024. The session, bringing together top central and regional leaders, included a discussion on boosting “the grid’s capacity capability to integrate, distribute and regulate clean energy.”
President Xi Jinping stressed need for “coordinated development of the energy sector” (“Xi stresses high-quality development of new energy”, CPC International Department, March 2, 2024).
In many ways, China’s long-distance ultra-high voltage transmission system is an extraordinary engineering achievement, likely to be copied in other parts of the world as more and more renewables are connected to grids. It has enabled a remarkable penetration of intermittent renewables, as well as hydroelectric generation, into the national power system while maintaining or improving reliability. As a result, wind and solar producers supplied 15% of all generation in the first five months of 2024, up from 7% in the same period in 2019.
In some ways, however, China is still struggling to forge a truly integrated nationwide system from fragmented provincial-level utilities that pursue their own priorities. If government plans to achieve even higher renewables penetration are to be achieved, there will have to be much closer links and more coordination between different types of generators and across far wider areas.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/chinas-rapid-renewables-rollout-hits-grid-limits
July 2, 2024
FTC To Sue To Block Tempur Sealy Acquisition
FTC preparing lawsuit to block Tempur Sealy’s $4B acquisition of Mattress Firm
Jul. 02, 2024 7:51 AM ETTempur Sealy International, Inc. (TPX) StockBy: Joshua Fineman, SA News Editor
The Federal Trade Commission is poised to sue to block mattress maker Tempur Sealy’s (NYSE:TPX) $4 billion planned purchase of retailer Mattress Firm. Tempur Sealy ticked lower by 0.5% in premarket trading.
The regulator is concerned that combining the largest manufacturer and retailer would lead to higher prices and that Tempur Sealy (TPX) may discriminate against rival suppliers, according to a Politico Pro report late Monday, which cited three people familiar with the matter.
A lawsuit could be filed as soon as Tuesday, according to the report.
The Politico Pro piece comes after CTFN reported last Tuesday that the companies met with the FTC last week in a last effort to try to convince the regulator to not block the combination.
CTFN also reported on Thursday that the Tempur Sealy/Mattress Firm deal was expected to be the subject of closed door meeting at the FTC on Monday. Tempur Sealy (TPX), which agreed to buy Mattress Firm in a $4 billion deal in May 2023, had agreed to sell off some of its retail stores to try to appease the FTC, according to the earlier CTFN item.
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