The lockout of rail workers by Canada’s two major railways has begun.
At 12:01 AM EDT this morning, after negotiations that began last year failed to bring about a resolution to the dispute, Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City announced at that they would lock out their employees who are members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC). The move affects roughly 9,000 employees at the two companies.
Related coverage: WP rail stoppage coverage
Read Also
Weigum’s work with Alect Seeds earns her Alberta’s Outstanding Young Farmer award
Three Hills farmer earns Alberta’s Outstanding Young Farmers award through marketing of Alect Seeds to bring the best varieties and crop types to their customers and improve the quality of the land they farm.
“Throughout this process, CN and CPKC have shown themselves willing to compromise rail safety and tear families apart to earn an extra buck,” said Paul Boucher, president of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, said in a release issued shortly after the lockout was announced.
In its announcement of the lockout, CN said it had been committed to avoid the work stoppage right up to the deadline and that the union did not respond to a last-minute offer by the railway to bridge the gap.
“This offer improved wages and would have seen employees work less days in a month by aligning hours of service in the collective agreement with federally mandated rest provisions,” read the announcement released shortly after midnight.
“Without an agreement or binding arbitration, CN had no choice but to finalize a safe and orderly shutdown and proceed with a lockout.”
For its part, CPKC said it had bargained in good faith in the months since the TCRC contract expired late last year, but a negotiated outcome appeared out of reach.
“The TCRC leadership continues to make unrealistic demands that would fundamentally impair the railway’s ability to serve our customers with a reliable and cost-competitive transportation service,” read the announcement.
The CPCK release went on to say the only way forward is for the parties to engage in binding arbitration.
Both railways had previously requested binding arbitration. Most recently, CN made a formal request to federal labour minister Steven MacKinnon on Aug. 9, but the government rejected the request a few days later.
