FOOT dragging toward ending the CN Rail strike seems to have paid off for the Conservative government but farmers were the losers.
Fifteen days after 2,800 freight train conductors and switching yard employees walked off the job, negotiators came to a tentative one-year agreement expected to be ratified later this month. The United Transportation Union admits the deal was struck to avoid back-to-work legislation planned by the government. That’s another way of saying that, had the government acted quicker, it could have reduced the damage.
A motion setting rules for debate on back-to-work legislation wasn’t introduced by federal labour minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn until Feb. 23. By that time, 14 days of the strike had resulted in prairie crop shipping backlogs, inland terminal congestion, havoc in pulse crop shipping, daily grain vessel demurrage charges of $300, 000 at port, layoffs at companies dependent upon rail service and further damage to Canada’s international reputation as a reliable shipper.
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What was Blackburn waiting for?
The Conservatives likely delayed action in hopes that CN and its union would come to terms without government involvement, thereby sparing the party any negative political fallout related to interference in collective bargaining. This, despite knowing government intervention has been necessary to resolve the last six railway strikes.
And their hopes materialized.
But what of the tremendous costs incurred due to the delay in action? In the early days of the strike, questions about its legality might legitimately have delayed intervention. Yet Blackburn waited a full eight days after the strike was declared legal to begin the process of back-to-work orders.
Conservative worries about union/management political sensibilities are even more difficult to fathom considering that CN’s profits rose by 21 percent, to $497 million, in the last quarter for which results have been posted.
As for the union side of the equation, CN figures show the average salary of the striking workers is $75,000 per year.
Compare those numbers to the average income of farmers held hostage by the strike and any sympathies evaporate.
Canada’s size and geography make it vulnerable to damage from railway strikes. A thin steel line connects industry to markets, and disruption of traffic hurts numerous third parties.
Given the importance of a reliable rail service to both domestic and international markets, government must develop a better strategy for handling railway disruptions. Final offer arbitration and other methods of resolution should be explored.
A workable strategy would eliminate expensive disruptions, help Canada re-establish its reputation for reliability in international markets and remove government temptation to let politics trump economic sense.
Bruce Dyck, Terry Fries, Barb Glen, D’Arce McMillan and Ken Zacharias collaborate in the writing of Western Producer editorials.
