Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world's largest producer of the crop nutrient, and the union representing workers at three Canadian mines agreed to a mediator to help advance contract talks, a union official said.

``We've agreed to a mediator and we're having face-to-face meetings with the company this morning,'' Roger Falconer, a United Steelworkers Union spokesman, said today by telephone. The two sides will begin working with veteran Canadian mediator Vic Pathe next week, Falconer said.

Pathe's appointment comes less than a week after the union suspended a program of rotating strikes at the potash mines in Saskatchewan. The company agreed to resume negotiations after a one-day walkout at the Cory mine, near Saskatoon.

The workers, who have been without a contract since the end of April, want a bigger share of the Saskatoon-based company's profit from soaring sales of potash and other crop nutrients, the union said.

Pathe is a former deputy minister in the Ontario government, according to the Web site of Pathe Gardner & Associates Inc., a Markham, Ontario-based labor-relations consulting firm where Pathe is a principal.

Potash Corp. fell C$3.38, or 1.6 percent, to C$206.99 at 4:10 p.m. in Toronto Stock Exchange trading. The shares have gained 44 percent this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Donville in Vancouver at cjdonville@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 1, 2008 17:21 EDT