Major Canadian railways Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. this week gave notice that they would initiate lockouts unless a last-minute agreement was made with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference. The Teamsters represent over 9,000 employees between both companies. Last week, both rail operators started a phased shutdown of their networks. The disruption would halt the movement of products like wheat, chemicals, perishable food goods, and fertilizers through the United States and Canada until the labor issue was resolved. Economists estimated that the lockouts would result in a loss of $732 million daily and more than billions more in lost revenue from unsold goods, lost wages, and unrealized contracts.
However, late Thursday, after Canadian Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon told the railways and unions it would not impose binding arbitration on the parties, the minister ordered arbitration to end the work stoppages. The union said it will keep its picket lines operating in the interim.
“These collective bargaining negotiations belong to CN Rail, CPKC and TCRC alone — but their effects, and the impacts of the current impasse, are being borne by all Canadians. As Minister of Labour, it is my assessment that the parties are at a fundamental impasse. Therefore, it is my duty and responsibility to invoke my authorities under the Canada Labour Code to secure industrial peace and deliver the short and long-term solutions that are in the national interest,” Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon said. “Workers, farmers, commuters and businesses rely on Canada’s railways everyday, and will continue to do so. It is the government’s duty and responsibility to ensure industrial peace in this critically vital sector. Thus, we will be examining why we experience repeated conflicts in the railway sector and the conditions that led to the parallel work stoppages we are seeing. Canadians can be assured that their government will not allow them to suffer when parties do not fulfill their responsibility. Especially where their livelihoods, worker safety, and communities are at stake.”
Around twenty percent of U.S. trade first arrives in Canadian ports, while two-thirds of cargo arriving at Port Vancouver is moved by rail into Canada and the U.S. Midwest. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), rail cross-border trade between Canada and the U.S. accounted for 14 percent of the total bilateral trade of $382.4 billion between the countries in the first half of this year. Around $572 million in container trade arrives in the U.S. daily from Canada.
Sources: Meatingplace, AgriPulse, Feedstuffs, Trains.com, CBS News, NPR, CNBC,
