Federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz says Ottawa would consider all of its options, including back to work legislation, in the event of a strike by workers at Canadian National Railway.
“Everybody has the right to collective bargaining and certainly we don’t disapprove of that, but at the end of the day … from an agricultural perspective and my government’s perspective, the economy has to be maintained, has to be looked after, and anything that disrupts us at this critical juncture, we’d have to analyze very, very carefully,” Ritz said in Saskatoon.
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“I guess I’d say that CN should probably look in the rear-view mirror and notice what we had to do with CP.”
Ritz said any decision to legislate striking employees back to work would be discussed by cabinet and would ultimately rest with the federal transportation and labour ministers.
He did not say how quickly workers would be forced back to work, if talks between CN and unionized workers fail.
Legislation is an option, he added.
“Those are always the options that are out there. I don’t want to prejudge anything. It depends in what their strike action calls for.”
About 3,000 CN workers, including conductors and yard workers, issued notice of their intention to strike on Feb. 8.
The workers rejected a tentative agreement reached in late October.
They have been without a contract since July 2013.
Ritz was in Saskatoon to speak at an agriculture trade summit.
