The labor situation involving Canadian National Railway, Canadian Pacific Kansas City, and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference remains both active and muddy.
Earlier today (Friday, Aug. 23), the TCRC served Canadian National with a 72-hour strike notice, announcing its intent to launch a strike against the railroad at 10 a.m. ET on Monday, Aug. 26.
This evening, the railroads and union concluded a 9-hour hearing with the Canada Industrial Relations Board over the move by Canadian Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon to send their dispute to binding arbitration while ordering the railroads to resume operation. That move was originally presented as ending the lockout of TCRC members at both railroads, but matters have proven to not be that simple.
In a statement this evening, the TCRC said it argued during the hearing that the labor minister “does not have absolute power to end a job action,” and that his action “violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by denying workers the right to strike and collectively bargain.” While the union said it will abide by any decision by the CIRB, it also said is prepared to file challenges in federal court.
The CIRB hearing did not result in a ruling. CN said in a statement that it would provide an update with next steps once a ruling is made, but will continue to enact its recovery plan in the interim.
CN had ended its lockout of TCRC engineers and conductors at 6 p.m. Thursday night, after Steven MacKinnon announced his binding-arbitration decision. The union issued its strike notice after earlier announcing it would return to work at CN, but maintain its picket lines at CPKC, which has not yet ended its lockout pending an order from the CIRB [see “Teamsters Canada returning to work at CN …,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 23, 2024].
An earlier union statement said the TCRC had issued the strike notice “to protect workers’ right to collective bargain and frustrate CN’s attempt to force arbitration” as a measure “to pressure CN into negotiating an agreement.” It noted that the CIRB has yet to make a ruling that would require binding arbitration or end any work stoppage.
“By sidestepping the collective bargaining process and ordering binding arbitration, the federal government has undermined the foundation on which labour unions work to improve wages and working conditions for all Canadians,” TCRC President Paul Boucher said. “Bargaining is also the primary way our union fights for rail safety — all considerations that outweigh short-term economic concerns.”
The actual prospects for a strike remains highly uncertain.
“The impact of this notice will depend on the timing of the CIRB,” CN said in a statement earlier today. “It is in the national interest of Canada that the CIRB rule quickly, before even more harm is caused.” CN also claimed the strike notice “confirms that the Teamsters never took the negotiations seriously and they had no desire to reach a deal.”
The strike notice posted on the TCRC website says, “We do not believe that any of the matters we have been discussing over the last several days are insurmountable and we remain available for discussion in order to resolve this matter without a further work stoppage.”
The CBC reports that Teamsters Canada President François Laporte said this morning in Calgary that company demands would have broken the union’s collective agreement. “We believe in fair and honest bargaining and that’s what we want, we want a fair and honest bargaining with the company,” Laporte said.
Laporte and other union officials were appearing at a rally outside CPKC headquarters.
— Updated at 5 p.m. CT with statement from TCRC; updated at 8 p.m. with information on hearing.
