OTTAWA — Canada’s freight rail work stoppage — the first to shut down both Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City simultaneously — is over.
Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon this afternoon ordered the railways to resume operations after sending the disputes to binding arbitration. The work stoppage began at 12:01 a.m. today after CN and CPKC locked out engineers and conductors represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, as well as CPKC rail traffic controllers.
“These collective bargaining negotiations belong to CN Rail, CPKC and TCRC alone — but their effects, and the impacts of the current impasse, are being borne by all Canadians,” MacKinnon said. “As Minister of Labour, it is my assessment that the parties are at a fundamental impasse. Therefore, it is my duty and responsibility to invoke my authorities under the Canada Labour Code to secure industrial peace and deliver the short and long-term solutions that are in the national interest.”
The existing contracts between TCRC and both railways will be extended until new agreements are signed. Negotiated agreements are always preferable, MacKinnon said, but the needs of the nation outweighed the need for a contract deal reached at the bargaining table.
“Workers, farmers, commuters and businesses rely on Canada’s railways everyday, and will continue to do so. It is the government’s duty and responsibility to ensure industrial peace in this critically vital sector,” MacKinnon said. “Thus, we 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. Canadians can be assured that their government will not allow them to suffer when parties do not fulfill their responsibility. Especially where their livelihoods, worker safety, and communities are at stake.”
Last week MacKinnon denied CN’s request to send the stalled contract talks to binding arbitration.
“Consistent with our discussion on August 5, 2024, I would like to clarify that it is your shared responsibility — Canadian National Railways Company and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference — to negotiate in good faith and work diligently towards a new collective agreement,” MacKinnon wrote on Aug. 14.
At the time, and with a strike deadline a week away, he said that federal mediators were standing by to assist in contract talks.