Canadian government orders resumption of rail service
A work stoppage at Canada’s two largest railways is over – at least for now.
According to CBC, the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB), an independent governmental body, issued an official back-to-work order that ends a brief lockout of more than 9,000 members of the Teamsters union by the Canada National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) rail lines which began shortly after midnight on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024.
The order imposes binding operation on union workers and the two railways. It also ends a strike that Teamsters members at CPKC had launched in concurrence with the lockout and invalidates a 72-hour strike notice the Teamsters had issued to CN on Friday, Aug. 23.
In a post on X (the social network formerly known as Twitter), Teamsters Canada said it will abide by the ruling but does not agree with it.
"The CIRB's decision sets a dangerous precedent: big companies can now pause operations briefly, and the government will break unions," Teamsters Canada said in the post. "Workers' rights are significantly diminished. The Teamsters will comply, but our fight is just beginning."
"While CN is disappointed an agreement could not be reached at the bargaining table, the company is satisfied that this order effectively ends the unpredictability that has been negatively impacting supply chains for months," CN said in a news release.
Teamsters Canada reportedly plans to appeal the ruling in court. The railways have indicated it could take weeks of having workers back on the job before operations are fully back to normal.
As previously reported by CNBC, the two railroad lines claimed they had been bargaining in good faith and made multiple contract offers with improvements to wages and working conditions before instituting the lockout.
Meanwhile, the Teamsters said they are concerned over issues such as length of shift, scheduling, rest periods between shifts and work-life balance.
Moody’s has estimated the stoppage could cost Canada more than $250 million per day and disrupt shipments of vital products. U.S. Department of Transportation figures indicate that rail shipments account for 14% of U.S.-Canada bilateral trade, which surpassed $380 billion from January to June 2024.
In the U.S. a strike that would have halted nearly 7,000 freight trains and dealt a blow to the U.S. supply chain heading into the 2023 holidays was prevented in December 2023 with action from the federal government.
[READ MORE: Freight rail strike averted]
