Trains Running Again, but Labour Peace Still Not Assured

Canadian railway workers are back on the job, but labour peace is still not assured 

Teamsters Canada Rail Conference said it will appeal to federal court a ruling from the Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) over the weekend that ordered railway operations to resume Monday morning.  

CN and CPKC locked out more than 9,000 workers early Thursday morning after the two companies and the teamsters failed to agree on new contracts. Later that same day, federal Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon ordered the CIRB to impose binding arbitration to force a settlement and get the trains moving again. The union challenged the government’s directive, but the CIRB ultimately decided the railways and workers must return to work. 

“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. The rights of Canadian workers have been significantly diminished. . .”  

Both CN and CPKC said they would comply with the CIRB order. 

“The CIRB order ends months of unnecessary uncertainty and disruption for the Canadian economy and North American supply chains,” CPKC said in a statement. “We anticipate it will take several weeks for the railway network to fully recover from this work stoppage and a period of time beyond that for supply chains to stabilize.” 

According to CPKC, the CIRB will be convening a case management meeting with the companies and the union on Thursday to discuss the imposition of final binding interest arbitration. Meanwhile, as specified in the CIRB’s order, the existing collective agreements between the company and the union remain in force. 

The Grain Growers of Canada, which represents over 65,000 farmers nationwide, said the initial impact of the dual rail stoppage would cost grain farmers over $43 million per day in the first week alone, with losses expected to climb to $50 million/day the week after and beyond if the stoppages continued.