Two months after a labor dispute shut down Canada’s rail network, a decision by the country’s labor board has sent the dispute to mediation between Canadian National and its largest union.
Mediation meetings between CN (NYSE: CNI) and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference are slated over seven days in March 2025, the railroad said in a statement Wednesday. If a mediated settlement is not reached in that time, arbitration will be scheduled to take place in April. The arbitrator will then have 60 days to rule.
The railroad said it expects a decision before the end of the second quarter.
On Tuesday, the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) said it does not have the authority to overrule Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon, who ended the lockout of 9,300 CN and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) union employees on Aug. 22 and sent the contract dispute to binding arbitration.
The union and CN recently agreed on an arbitrator to set the terms of the next collective agreement.
The CIRB order keeps the current collective agreement in place until there is a new contract, and bars a strike or lockout.
CPKC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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