Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is facing calls to intervene to avert major rail disruptions in the coming hours, is urging opponents to reach a deal for the sake of Canadians and Canadian businesses.
Canada’s two largest railroads, Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), are on the verge of locking out thousands of workers amid simultaneous and tense labour negotiations.
The railroad said it would begin a worker lockout early Thursday if it can’t reach an agreement with the union representing 9,300 engineers, conductors and yard workers, bringing the roughly $1 billion worth of freight that moves over the railroad’s tracks each day to an abrupt halt.
“My message is simple and clear: It is in both sides’ best interests to continue working hard at the negotiating table to find a negotiated solution,” Trudeau said in a brief address on Wednesday.
“Millions of Canadians across the country, workers, farmers and businesses expect both sides to work toward a solution.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it was in the “best interests of CN Rail, CPKC and the Teamsters union to continue working hard at the bargaining table to find a negotiated solution.” Canada’s two largest rail companies have said they will begin locking out workers starting Thursday if no agreement is reached, and the union has said it will call a strike the same day.
The same day, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Business Council of Canada, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and the Canadian Association of Manufacturers and Exporters issued a joint statement calling on the federal government to take “immediate action” to keep trains and freight moving.
“The Government of Canada has a responsibility to protect Canadians and maintain our national security, and the time has come to take decisive action to meet that obligation,” the statement said.
They argue that under section 107 of the federal Labour Act, Labour Minister Stephen McKinnon can refer disputes to the Canada Labour Relations Board for binding arbitration and can prohibit strikes, lockouts or continued strike action pending resolution.
The federal government could also reconvene Parliament and introduce back-to-work legislation, the group argues.
“This is not about taking sides with one party or the other, it’s about standing up for Canadians,” the industry group said in a statement.
“The federal government must show leadership and act before our trains, and with them our economy, grind to a halt or Canadian families, workers and businesses will pay a heavy price for inaction.”
The minister called on both sides to come to an agreement.
McKinnon has already rejected CN’s request for binding arbitration, instead urging the parties to resolve the matter at the negotiated table.
Labor unions have been demanding improved wages, benefits and working conditions for workers.
The Teamsters Canadian Railway Congress alleges that CPKC is trying to “eliminate all safety-critical fatigue provisions from the collective agreement.” The union alleges that CN is forcing employees to relocate across Canada for months at a time to make up for labour shortages.
In a statement earlier this week, the Teamsters said they have made “no meaningful progress” in negotiations so far.
Barry Eidlin, an associate professor at McGill University and an expert on labour issues, said Canada once had a reputation for being “fairly aggressive” when it came to enforcing back-to-work laws, but that changed with a 2015 Supreme Court decision upholding a constitutional right to strike.
“We live in different times,” Eidlin said, “and the current Trudeau government seems to take that right seriously. It has repeatedly said that the best deal is the one negotiated at the table.”
He said there would be disadvantages for both sides if binding arbitration were used.
“That, over time, undermines confidence in the bargaining process,” he said, “and it undermines the entire collective bargaining system.”
Some commuter and VIA Rail routes affected
A rolling shutdown of the rail network has already begun, with transit officials saying a dispatcher strike would affect some commuter routes that run on CPKC tracks in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
VIA Rail, which operates some of the CPKC-owned rail infrastructure, said it was negotiating continued access to a one-kilometre section of track in Smiths Falls, Ontario, and would continue to operate scheduled service between Ottawa and Toronto if a lockdown were to be implemented.
VIA Rail also said in a statement Thursday that its Sudbury-White River service has lost access to the CPKC tracks and must suspend operations until the work stoppage is resolved.
The intercity passenger rail company said other services were unaffected.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the department was closely monitoring the negotiations and their potential impact on the flow of goods across the border.
“We are working with our Canadian counterparts to track the flow of critical supplies to U.S. consumers and businesses,” he wrote on social media.
