Labour talks between Canadian National Railway and unionized workers are headed to arbitration.
Officials from CN and Teamsters Canada confirmed last week that stalled contract talks will be sent to arbitration.
Teamsters Canada represents 3,000 CN employees, including train conductors and yard workers, who have been without a contract since last summer.
The union has twice rejected tentative agreements reached by union and CN negotiators.
The latest offer was rejected by a narrow margin of 891 votes in favour of ratification and 852 against.
Rest periods between work shifts is one of the key issues in the negotiations.
A CN official told Reuters last week that he was hopeful an arbitrated agreement could be reached by mid-June.
The arbitration process is expected to address fears that a labour disruption could interrupt railway operations as CN attempts to move half a million tonnes of western Canadian grain per week.
Ottawa imposed an order last month that required Canada’s major railway companies to move a combined total of one million tonnes of prairie grain per week, the equivalent of roughly 11,000 loaded hopper cars.
