Canada’s rail workers ordered back to work

This picture taken last week shows Canadian National Railway (CN), Kansas City Southern Railway Company (KCS) and Canadian Pacific (CP) railcars sitting idle near the Roberts bank Super Port in Delta, British Columbia. – AFP

The Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) has ordered a halt to work stoppages at the country’s largest railways, signalling an end to an unprecedented service disruption at both main freight rail carriers that threatened to hammer Canada’s export-driven economy.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government moved quickly to end the strikes, sending the disputes to the CIRB to be resolved by an arbitrator.
The independent labour tribunal’s decision ends an impasse in separate talks between more than 9,000 Teamsters members, and Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC).
The Teamsters said in a statement that workers’ rights were “significantly diminished” with the ruling and that it would appeal in federal court.
The board’s decisions are the latest twist in the labour disputes at CN and CPKC, which locked out Teamsters members on Thursday, triggering a simultaneous rail stoppage that business groups said could inflict hundreds of millions of dollars in economic damage.
Canada, the world’s second-largest country by area, relies heavily on trains to transport a wide range of commodities and goods.
CN and CPKC tracks stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific and south into the United States, carrying an estimated C$1bn ($730mn) worth of goods daily.
Canadian Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon said on social media site X that he expects “railway companies and employees will resume operations at the earliest opportunity”.
The decision will restart railway operations at CPKC where workers had been both locked out and on strike, by 0001 ET (0401 GMT) today, the railway said in a statement.
A Teamsters spokesperson said workers would not come back earlier, despite CPKC’s request for employees to return yesterday.
The labour board’s decision averted a planned strike today by locomotive engineers, conductors and other workers at Montreal-based CN just days after Canada’s largest railway ended a lockout and began restoring service.
The Teamsters confirmed its CN workers would not strike today after the CIRB decision.
Along with ordering an end to the stoppage, the board implemented government requests to impose binding arbitration on the parties to reach new deals and to impose a continuation of the existing contracts until new agreements are reached.
“This decision by the CIRB sets a dangerous precedent,” said Paul Boucher, president of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference. “It signals to corporate Canada that large companies need only stop their operations for a few hours, inflict short-term economic pain, and the federal government will step in to break a union.”
A CN spokesperson said the company would have preferred a negotiated agreement, but “we are satisfied that this puts an end to the labour stoppage”.
CN’s employees had already returned to work Friday morning, but hours later the union filed a strike notice for today – which is now voided.
CPKC’s workers, meanwhile, had initially refused to resume operations as they contested the constitutionality of the government intervention.
The disruption could have drastically affected farmers and agriculture companies in both Canada and the United States.
Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Western Grain Elevator Association, which represents grain companies, said they had urged the government for weeks to refer the matter to the CIRB.
“It means that the government has really listened to what Canadians were telling them,” he said. “We can’t take a self-inflicted wound on the economy.”
Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the US Soy Transportation Coalition said the Canadian government had to intervene to help farmers who rely on seamless cross-border trade.
“We have not taken a side between railroads and railroad workers,” Steenhoek said. “However, we are on the side of the American farmer.”
On Thursday, MacKinnon, said his decision to refer the matter to the CIRB would survive a court challenge given his broad power under the country’s labour code.
The Teamsters union wants its members’ working conditions and pay to be determined by bargaining, despite disputes with CN and CP over scheduling, shift duration and availability.
CN, for example, wants employees to work up to 12-hour shifts, compared with 10 hours in the current agreement, a move opposed by the union.