By Chris Clayton, DTN Ag Policy Editor, and Mary Kennedy, DTN Basis Analyst
MINNEAPOLIS and OMAHA (DTN) -- The union representing thousands of Canadian railroad workers on Friday pressed for a strike starting as early as Monday after initially agreeing to the federal government's demands to end a work stoppage with the country's two largest freight railroads.
The contentious labor dispute has gridlocked roughly $1 billion of daily freight movement for the Canadian National Railway (CN) and the Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) railroad.
The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) early Friday stated it would stop picketing the CN railroad and union members would return to work on Friday.
Hours later, the TCRC then served notice to strike against the CN with a 72-hour notice for approximately 6,000 members. The strike would begin Monday, Aug. 26. (https://www.cn.ca/…)
"We do not believe that any of the matters we have been discussing over the last several days are insurmountable, and we remain available for discussion in order to resolve this matter without a further work stoppage," the union leaders wrote. (https://www.teamstersrail.ca/…)
Canadian National wrote on its website that the railway "proactively ended the lockout of the Teamsters" on Thursday after government officials moved to impose binding arbitration. Pointing to the strike notice, CN stated, "This latest development confirms that the Teamsters never took negotiations seriously and that they had no desire to reach a deal."
The TCRC had also pressed to maintain the work stoppage against CPKC with a meeting between the union and railroad already set for Friday. TCRC leaders then held a rally outside of CPKC's headquarters in Calgary, Alberta. (https://www.cpkcr.com/…)
On Aug. 18, the TCRC on its website said, "We have served 72-Hours-Notice to withdraw our services, to be effective Thursday August 22 at 00:01 Eastern Time, to protect the TCRC's statutory and Charter protected rights to engage in a lawful strike. We are continuing to bargain with the Company and will remain at the table as long as it takes. Your bargaining committee remains committed to achieving an agreement that is acceptable and in line with the demands received by each Division." (https://www.teamstersrail.ca/…)
The railroads had preemptively moved early Thursday morning to lock out the Teamsters union after negotiations over a new contract failed. Those talks began back in January. The CN and CPKC then supported the Minister of Labour's announcement late Thursday afternoon to impose binding arbitration on the railways and the unions. The Labour order also requires freight operations to resume for the two railroads, but the union has balked.
See more DTN coverage on the railroad dispute, government actions taken Thursday, and reaction to the rail stoppage at https://www.dtnpf.com/….
Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com
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Mary Kennedy can be reached at Mary.Kennedy@dtn.com
Follow her on Twitter @MaryCKenn
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