CPKC and CN resume rail operations following federal labour board decision halting work stoppage

By Maritime Magazine
2024-08-26

By Leo Ryan, Editor

Freight traffic has begun slowly returning on the vast networks of CPKC and CN in response to the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) decision announced on Saturday ordering the railways to end their work stoppage and engage in a binding arbitration procedure. The conflict disrupted the transportation of an estimated $1 billion worth of commodities and consumer goods daily, especially impacting on such leading ports as Montreal, Halifax, Vancouver and Prince Rupert.

In an unprecedented action, the two railways simultaneously locked out some 9,300 workers last Thursday as negotiations with the Teamsters Union totally collapsed – sparking urgent calls from business circles for the government to intervene quickly to prevent severe damage to supply chains across North America.

“CPKC Trains began running last night, “spokesman Jonathan Waldron told Maritime Magazine. ”As stated over the weekend, our team is executing its restart plan for the safe and orderly resumption of rail service across Canada.

“We are working with customers on a balanced return to normal operations. We anticipate it will take several weeks for the railway network to fully recover from this work stoppage and a period of time beyond that for supply chains to stabilize.”

CN began slating the resumption of freight activity after declaring it was “satisfied that this order effectively ends the unpredictability that has been negatively impacting supply chains for months.”

The CIRB had agreed on Saturday to Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon’s request for arbitration under Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code together with an extension of the workers’ expired contracts and for the railways to resume operations “forthwith.”

“The board has concluded that, in this case, it has no discretion or ability to refuse to implement, in whole or in part, the minister’s directions or modify their terms,” the CIRB said in its decision, signed on behalf of Chairwoman Ginette Brazeau.

The Labour Minister stressed that a return to work was needed because Canadians’ livelihoods, safety and communities were at stake. “I expect that railway companies and employees will resume operations at the earliest opportunity,” he said on X.

For its part, the Teamsters union said that while it will “lawfully comply” with the decision, it will appeal the ruling to the Federal Court. “This decision by the CIRB sets a dangerous precedent,” union President Paul Boucher said. “The rights of Canadian workers have been significantly diminished today.”

The CIRB has directed parties to attend a meeting on Aug. 29 on the implementation of the arbitration process. While no time limit has been mentioned, observers consider it could take several months of discussions for an arbitrated package to be completed. Key issues have revolved around scheduling, rail safety and crew fatigue.