Teamsters challenge minister’s move to resume rail service as CPKC lockout drags on

Rail workers are pushing back hard against the federal government’s move to get them back on the job.

At Canadian National Railway Co., trains began to move again Friday morning as workers started to return to work — even as the Teamsters union issued a 72-hour strike notice against CN shortly before 10 a.m. ET.

And at Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd., the union representing some 3,300 employees at Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd., is challenging a directive for binding arbitration issued by Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to the country’s labour board.

An unprecedented work stoppage at both national railways prompted MacKinnon to ask the Canada Industrial Relations Board on Thursday to use the mechanism to resolve an impasse that has halted freight shipments and snarled commuter lines across the country.

The labour board summoned the parties to a meeting Thursday night, followed by a hearing this morning.

The tribunal says it is addressing the issue “with utmost urgency.” A decision is expected later today.

The minister had faced pressure from business groups, which warned of the economic consequences of the work stoppage and urged Ottawa to fix the impasse and kick-start freight service.

At a Thursday news conference, MacKinnon said the government is “committed totally to collective bargaining,” but said the impacts of the shutdown are being felt by all Canadians.

The government gave the negotiations “every possible opportunity to succeed,” he said.

Each side had accused the other of failing to negotiate seriously. The union had said it rejected binding arbitration, framing Ottawa’s decision as a move to “sidestep” it.

“Despite claiming to value and honour the collective bargaining process, the federal government quickly used its authority to suspend it, mere hours after an employer-imposed work stoppage,” said Paul Boucher, president of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, in a release Thursday evening.

The union has said both companies are pushing to weaken protections around rest periods and scheduling. It says CN also seeks a scheme that would see some employees move to far-flung locations for several months at a time to fill labour gaps.

For commuters, the transit snarls continue.

More than 30,000 riders daily in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver take passenger trains that run on CPKC-owned tracks, which currently have no rail traffic controllers to dispatch the locomotives.

The agency responsible for GO Transit in Ontario said service will remain down Friday on the Milton line and at the Hamilton GO station, while B.C. regional transport provider TransLink said service for the West Coast Express will also remain. Three of the Exo network’s train lines in the Montreal area will also stay down.

Via Rail said trains on its 480-kilometre Sudbury-White River line, which runs three times a week in northern Ontario, are cancelled until the work stoppage is resolved.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 23, 2024.