A potential lockout of rail workers by CN Rail and CPKC next week could cause major disruption to commuter travel in B.C.’s Lower Mainland.
TransLink says the West Coast Express will not be able to run should a work stoppage happen as it operates on CPKC Rail.
All service on the line would be halted for the duration of the lockout, which is set to begin on Aug. 22 if no deal is reached.
Passenger train service could also face disruptions.
Rocky Mountaineer tells Global News that contingency plans would have passengers travel by bus should a lockout stop trains from running.
The union has so far turned down offers of binding arbitration from both railways.
“Canadian business groups have been pointing out the hundreds of millions of dollars of trade at stake and the reputation and damage this will do to Canada’s reputation as a global trading partner,” Barry Eidlin, a professor of sociology at McGill University, said.
“The industrial relations board in their ruling recognized that these were indeed potential consequences; the point is that a strike is supposed to be disruptive. The point of a strike is to have the threat of disruption provide pressure on the employer to come to the bargaining table.”