The federal government is moving to impose a back-to-work order on striking CN Rail conductors and yard-service employees.
The government plans to push legislation through Parliament to force resolution of the dispute through final offer arbitration.
Late on April 16, a government official speaking for background purposes said the government will use closure to cut off debate and push the bill through the House of Commons this week.
“We hope the Senate then moves quickly to get this into law by the end of the week,” said the official.
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A closure motion was expected to be introduced April 17.
Earlier in the afternoon April 16, labour minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn told reporters the government had decided the uncertainty at CN, with rotating strikes by some unionized employees and lockouts by management, could not continue.
“Now, it’s time to act,” he said, noting that an earlier strike in February cost the economy at least $1 billion. “I think the economy and the employers and many groups said they would like to see our government act and we’ll do it.”
Liberal House leader and Saskatchewan MP Ralph Goodale said in an interview Liberals will support the legislation.
“The economy and particularly the farm economy is very concerned about this and we need to act,” he said.
But the New Democrats vowed to oppose the legislation, blaming CN for the problem.
“CN Rail is not treating their workers fairly and they are not willing to step forward with a reasonable offer and they are hoping that the Conservative government will bail out this multinational corporation and deny the hard working people of CN a reasonable resolution to their contract negotiation,” NDP leader Jack Layton told an Ottawa news conference. “It’s very unfair.”
While the resumption of rotating strikes last week and the subsequent CN decision to lock out employees who walked off the job did not create reports of disruptions in movement of farm products, the government was under strong pressure from many prairie farm interests to end the uncertainty.
The Canadian Wheat Board, the Western Grain Elevators Association and the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association all called for back-to work legislation as quickly as possible.
“In February, farmers witnessed the costly and crippling effects of a two-week rail strike,” said WCWGA president Cherilyn Jolly-Nagel. “We don’t want to see that happen again.”
The association also asked the government to declare railway operations to be an essential service and prohibit strikes or lockouts.
However, the farmer call for back-to-work legislation was not unanimous.
National Farmers Union executive secretary Terry Pugh said while the organization is concerned about the impact of the strike on farmers, it would prefer the two parties be allowed to negotiate a settlement.
Meanwhile, a split within the United Transportation Union representing the 2,800 affected workers complicated the situation. It was anything but united.
A strong majority of union members last week rejected a tentative contract negotiated in February.
However, when a call went out for a resumption of rotating strikes to put pressure on CN Rail, workers on the West Coast took up the call but many others across the country stayed on the job.
The Teamsters Union is trying to raid many of the members disgruntled by UTU policies.
Goodale said union chaos is partly why Parliament must intervene.
“No one likes to see it come to this point. But it seems this is a very dysfunctional negotiation ….”
