Rail stoppages continue as CPKC, CN unions remain defiant following federal intervention

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Federal intervention in Canada’s ongoing railway stoppages wasn’t enough to get all trains moving on Friday as workers’ unions issued a new strike notice and a regulatory challenge, adding to the latest chapter in stoppages that continue to roil supply chains.

The federal government’s decision to send the parties to binding arbitration was met with hesitant optimism among Alberta’s business community, particularly in agricultural sectors.

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At Calgary-based Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. (CPKC), the union has challenged a directive for binding arbitration issued by Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to the country’s labour board. Rail workers picketed outside the company’s headquarters in southeast Calgary on Friday morning as union bosses described two parties at an impasse in negotiations.

And at Canadian National Railway Co. (CN Rail), trains began to move again Friday morning as workers started to trickle back to work — even as the Teamsters union issued a 72-hour strike notice against CN shortly before 8 a.m. MT.

A work stoppage at both national railways prompted MacKinnon to ask the Canada Industrial Relations Board on Thursday to use the mechanism, aimed at resolving an impasse that has halted freight shipments and snarled commuter lines across the country.

The labour board summoned the parties to a meeting Thursday night, followed by a hearing Friday morning.

The tribunal said in an email it is addressing the issue “with utmost urgency.” A decision was expected later Friday.

Pickets continued at the head office of CPKC in Calgary and those on the line received a visit Friday morning from Francois Laporte, the national president of Teamsters Canada.

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Laporte and Sean O’Brien, the general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, arrived in a black semi truck, its horns blaring, with Teamsters written on the side.

O’Brien called the lockouts by both rail companies “a disgrace,” saying two parties had remained far apart on key issues leading up to Thursday’s stoppages.

“The basis of the negotiations was the company’s demands … They had different offers on the table that were not acceptable.”

Business groups welcome federal intervention

Before making the binding arbitration directive, the labour minister had faced pressure to intervene from business groups, which warned of the economic consequences of the work stoppage and urged Ottawa to break the deadlock and kickstart freight service. Among those included the Business Council of Alberta (BCA), which said Thursday night it was “pleased to see the government appropriately utilize its authority.”

The Canadian Cattle Association and Grain Growers of Canada — two national associations whose industries have significant presence in Alberta — both welcomed the government’s directive, urging the parties to get trains moving as soon as possible.

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Scott Crockatt, vice-president of communications and external communications for the BCA, said in a Friday interview the BCA hopes to see a “swift and fair end to this dispute” so Canada’s economic drivers can return to normal.

Crockatt said the council believes that because bargaining appears to be at a clear impasse and fair arbitration has been established, it has become appropriate for the federal government to pass back-to-work legislation.

“I think Canadians are looking for our governments to protect their interests as well in these circumstances,” he said.

At a Thursday news conference, MacKinnon said the government is “committed totally to collective bargaining,” but said the impacts of the shutdown are being felt by all Canadians. At the time, he did not say whether he’d received commitments from unions that workers would return to the job on Friday.

Each side had accused the other of failing to negotiate seriously, with wages and scheduling as key sticking points. The union had said it rejected binding arbitration, framing Ottawa’s decision as a move to “sidestep” it.

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The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference has said both companies are pushing to weaken protections around rest periods and scheduling. It says CN also seeks a scheme that would see some employees move to far-flung locations for several months at a time to fill labour gaps.

CN pushed back on Friday, saying the Teamsters are “holding Canada hostage to their demands.”

“CN is focused on recovery in order to resume powering the economy. The Teamsters are focused on returning to the pickets and shutting everything down again,” said spokesman Jonathan Abecassis in a phone interview.

In Calgary, Laporte said he understood that the Teamsters at CN gave 72 hours strike notice this morning and as far as he’s concerned the dispute will continue.

“Our people are still on strike. We’re still on the streets so our operation will not resume. It is not going to be business as usual for both companies.”

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Premier Smith supports arbitration move

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who had called for the federal government to pursue binding arbitration before the stoppages, said she was pleased by the government’s direction.

The Alberta NDP, led by former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi, said Wednesday prior to the stoppages that while it was concerned about the economic impact of a strike or lockout, calls by the premier for back-to-work legislation “shows a complete disregard for workers’ rights to make a deal.” It did not say whether it supported binding arbitration, urging the federal government to “do everything in its power to help the parties stay at the table and make progress on a negotiated agreement.”

The Alberta NDP referred Postmedia to its Aug. 21 statement when asked about its position on the federal government imposing arbitration and unions’ objections to those demands.

The Alberta Federation of Labour, led by once-Alberta NDP leadership hopeful Gil McGowan, said the federal government is “rewarding a foreign-owned cartel for its bad behaviour” and its decision to impose arbitration “will not address the root causes of this dispute.”

“If the federal government allows CN and CPKC to impose their mean-spirited and family-unfriendly scheduling regimes, the problem of chronically under-staffed railways will only get worse, not better,” McGowan wrote in the statement.

Neither federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre nor his party have commented on the stoppages.

— With files from The Canadian Press

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