They have rejected two Basin offers, the latest by a 350 to 21 vote last week. Union business manager Gary Leinius said salary increases at the plant have been nearly 13 percent less than at other Basin facilities in the last decade. Manitoba farmers say they are delighted by the defeat of a proposal that would have prevented most of their farm products from crossing the U.S. border into North Dakota. It applied both to products staying in North Dakota and those simply passing through the state on the way to other American markets. Manitoba farmers have said the issue was a political one to keep their products from competing with those from North Dakota.
Officials say pesticides used in Canada for canola lack approval in the United States.
Financial terms weren't disclosed. The new site, CNBC MoneyCentral, will become part of MSN, Microsoft's family of online sites that also includes Slate and Hotmail, company executives said. Microsoft will operate the Web site out of offices in suburban Redmond, while editorial services will be split between Redmond and Fort Lee, N.J., where CNBC is based. Bob Wright, NBC president and chief executive, said the deal would likely result in some layoffs, but he didn't think they would be substantial. NBC recently shut down its main Internet initiative, NBC Internet, a publicly traded subsidiary.