TORONTO – A union on Friday threatened a strike on one of Canada’s two major freight railroads, just hours after the company’s trains restarted after a potentially devastating shutdown. A government-ordered arbitration hearing ended without a decision, and Canadian National rail is expected to continue running at least until Monday morning.
CN and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. locked out workers on Friday when negotiations over a new labor contract reached a deadline without an agreement. It caused a total shutdown of freight rail in the country for more than a day, until Canadian National resumed service on Friday morning. CPKC-operated trains remained parked and workers, who had been on strike since Thursday, remained on the picket line on Friday.
The government forced the company and its union, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, into arbitration overseen by the Canada Industrial Relations Board — an order the union challenged. Friday’s nine-hour session ended without a message from the council.
The union filed a 72-hour strike notice with CN on Friday morning shortly after announcing it planned to challenge the arbitration order, union spokesman Marc-André Gauthier said.
If the board rules the union back, “TCRC will abide by the decision legally, but will take steps to challenge it to the best of our ability,” the Teamsters said in a statement. “Unfortunately this will not provide immediate relief but the Union is prepared to appeal to the federal courts if necessary.
“We do not believe that any of the matters that have been discussed over the past several days cannot be resolved and we remain available for discussions in order to resolve this matter without stopping work,” the union said in a letter to CN management.
Canadian National, which has about 6,500 workers involved in the dispute, said the impact of the strike notice would depend on the timing of the CIRB’s decision. “It is in the national interest of Canada that the CIRB rules quickly, before even more harm,” said the railway in a written statement. CPKC has around 3,000 engineers, conductors and operators involved.
Perrin Beatty, President and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said the union’s latest actions “will further damage our economy and jeopardize the well-being and livelihoods of Canadians, including union and non-union workers in many industries.”
Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon has announced the decision to force the parties into arbitration on Thursday afternoon, more than 16 hours after a lockout shut down the railways, saying the economic risks were too great to allow them to continue. The government refused to allow arbitration two weeks ago. Mackinnon said he is hopeful that negotiations between the company and the union over a new contract will be successful. A spokesman for MacKinnon declined to comment Monday on news of the strike.
“This is not about violating the minister’s order. It’s about exercising our rights,” Teamsters Canada President Francois Laporte said Friday when announcing the strike. “We will exercise our rights within the framework of the law.”
Canadian National Railways has started at 7 a.m. in Canada, said CN spokesman Jonathan Abecassis. The development initially appeared to at least end the work stoppages that threatened to devastate the economies of Canada and the United States. Both countries, in all their industries, depend on rail to transport raw materials and finished products.
“While CN is focused on recovery plans and strengthening the economy, the Teamsters are focused on returning to the picket line and holding the North American economy hostage to their demands,” Abecassis said after the news of the union strike.
Rebuilding one of the railroads is a relief for business. In a series of railroad labor disputes, only one of Canada’s railroads was shut down and the economy was able to handle the disruption.
Negotiations that began last year have been stalled over issues over worker scheduling and contract rules designed to prevent burnout. The railroad is proposing to switch from the current system that pays workers based on the number of miles they travel, to a system based on hours worked. The railroads said the switch would make it easier to provide a predictable schedule. But the union resisted over concerns that the proposed changes would undermine the protections it has fought so tirelessly for and jeopardize safety.
Similar quality-of-life concerns over demanding schedules and a lack of paid sick time drove U.S. railroads to strike two years ago before Congress and President Joe Biden intervened and forced workers to accept a deal.
In Canada, another issue at CN is the railroad’s goal of expanding the system allowing it to move workers to other parts of the network when there is a shortage of workers in certain areas.
Regarding wages, the railroads said that they both offered increases in line with other new offers in the industry for what has been well-paid jobs. Canadian National says engineers earn about $150,000 and conductors about $121,000 for working 160 days a year, though some breaks are stuck in hotels on the road between train trips when they need a break. CPKC said that the salary is commensurate.
Nearly all Canadian cargo handled by rail — worth more than C$1 billion (US$730 million) a day and adding up to more than 375 million tons of goods last year — was halted Thursday along with rail shipments crossing the U.S. border. Some small freight railroads that handle local shipments continue to operate but cannot deliver shipments to one of the major railroads when they are idle.
About 30,000 commuters in Canada are also affected as the trains use CPKC lines. CPKC and CN trains continue to operate in the US and Mexico during the lockout.
Billions of dollars in goods move between Canada and the U.S. by rail every month, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
“There are a lot of goods and services being shipped across borders,” Sean O’Brien, President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, said at a rally in Calgary, Alberta, on Friday. it will have an impact. … They have a lot of decisions to make. And they have to make the most important decision: Reward these workers with what they have earned and also don’t try to reduce their safety so they have to feed them.