After a bitter contract dispute shut down the country’s two major railways, the federal labour board ordered thousands of rail employees back to work on Saturday.
Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon asked to send the parties to binding arbitration while an agreement is hammered out between Canadian National, Canadian Pacific Kansas City and the Teamsters union representing thousands of their workers.
The board also ordered that no further labour stoppage, including a lockout or strike, can occur during the arbitration process. This means that the strike notice recently issued to CN by the Teamsters is now voided.
CN said it will comply with the order which also extends the current collective agreement until a new agreement is signed between the parties.
In a statement, the Teamsters union said it will “lawfully comply” with the board’s decision but it will also appeal the ruling to federal court.
“This decision by the CIRB sets a dangerous precedent,” Paul Boucher, president of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference said in a statement.
“It signals to Corporate Canada that large companies need only stop their operations for a few hours, inflict short-term economic pain, and the federal government will step in to break a union. The rights of Canadian workers have been significantly diminished today.”
“The Trudeau Liberals have chosen to side against middle- and working-class Canadians, abandoning their supposed progressive values at the first sign of short-term supply chain disruptions. The Teamsters have fought to protect rail safety in Canada, improve working conditions, and prevent CN from forcing workers to relocate thousands of kilometres away from their families—and we will continue to do so.”
The union had said it would lawfully abide by any decision from the board and “is prepared to file challenges in Federal Court if necessary.”
MacKinnon said in an update posted to X that he “expects that railway companies and employees will resume operations at the earliest opportunity.”
The rail shutdown has sent shockwaves through the Canadian economy, with provinces, economists, business groups, the agriculture sector, exporters and retailers voicing concerns about the potential for massive losses and supply chain disruptions in different industries that rely on the rail networks.
The main sticking points in the negotiations have been around relocation, rest periods and scheduling. The union has said the latter two demands are rooted in workers’ safety concerns.
The impasse also affected tens of thousands of commuters in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, whose lines run on CPKC-owned tracks. Passenger trains could not run on those rails without the locked-out traffic controllers to dispatch them.
-with files from The Canadian Press