Update, as of 11:30am eastern, August 23:
After announcing early Friday morning that CN Rail workers were taking down picket lines and returning to work, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference has served 72-hour strike notice to CN, as of 10am, Friday, August 23. This means around 6,500 CN workers, who were locked out on August 22, could walk off the job on August 26, unless the railway and union reach an agreement before then.
The work stoppage at CPKC continues, as the union is looking at challenging the constitutionality of the Labour Minister’s order to the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB).
CPKC and union representatives were planning to meet with the CIRB at 10am eastern on Friday.
The federal government is invoking Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to put an end to the unprecedented shutdown of both of Canada’s national railways, less than 17 hours after CN and CPKC locked out more than nine thousand workers who were otherwise set to go on strike a minute after midnight on Thursday morning.
Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon announced late Thursday afternoon that he is ordering the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to begin the process of final binding arbitration, as well as a return to work for members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, and an extension of their last collective bargaining agreements in the meantime.
“We gave negotiations every possible opportunity to succeed, right up until mid-day today,” said MacKinnon, in a news conference held on short notice on Parliament Hill.
“I’m ordering three things: resumption of activities, a binding arbitration process, and extending the collective agreement,” he said.
It’s not completely clear how long the CIRB process will take to get trains running again, although MacKinnon said he expects the board will make its decision within the next two days.
“If you’re sensing any lack of clarity on that from me, it’s because there is an independent agency or tribunal involved here who must follow their own process,” he said. “I assume that the trains will be running within days…”
The TCRC said it is “deeply disappointed by this shameful decision” to refer the dispute to the CIRB. As of Thursday evening, the union said it is consulting with legal counsel to determine next steps, while maintaining picket lines at both railways.
“The government took this unprecedented step, using this seldom utilized section of the labour code, only because they knew their minority could not gather the support needed to pass a legislated resolution to appease the railways,” said union president Paul Boucher, in a statement emailed to RealAgriculture.
MacKinnon said he would leave it to the union to say whether it intends to challenge the government’s orders in court, but that he couldn’t imagine a more appropriate situation for invoking the Section 107 authority than a case with both national railways ceasing operations.
Following the minister’s announcement, CPKC said it is preparing to restart rail operations, but that it will await the order from the CIRB before providing further details on timing. CN said it is ending its lockout, effective 18:00 ET on Thursday, and initiating its recovery plan while also awaiting formal instruction from the CIRB.
Dozens of farm and commodity groups in Canada and the U.S. were among the many voices calling for binding arbitration leading up to the August 22 strike/lockout deadline. MacKinnon denied a formal request from CN for binding arbitration late last week.
The minister said the government wanted to let the deadline pass to give federal mediators every chance for success at the negotiating table. “Unfortunately, in this case, we weren’t able to, and that is why we have come to this decision today,” said MacKinnon on Thursday afternoon, noting the railways and union remain “very, very far apart.”
Canada’s two railways carry more than $1 billion worth of goods each day, on average, including many millions of dollars worth of agricultural products, including grain and fertilizer. More than 32 thousand rail commuters in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver are also affected by the stoppage with regional train systems running on CPKC tracks.
In addition to invoking the Section 107 measures, MacKinnon said the government 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.”
Editor’s note: This article has been updated several times with new information and quotes.
