Canada Ruling to Resume Rail Labor ‘Sets a Dangerous Precedent,’ Says Teamsters
Canada’s Class I railroads are back to work.
Two days after Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon sent contract negotiations between the country’s two major railroads and 9,300 union employees to binding arbitration, Canada’s federal labor board supported the decision, affirming Saturday that the railroads must resume operations and that employees must resume their work duties. No further labor stoppage can occur during the arbitration process.
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“The board has concluded that, in this case, it has no discretion or ability to refuse to implement, in whole or in part, the minister’s directions or to modify their terms,” Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) chairperson Ginette Brazeau wrote in a pair of rulings.
Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) had both locked out the Teamsters-represented employees ahead of an intended strike set for Aug. 22. With the board’s ruling, CN ended its lockout on Friday, while CPKC lifted its stoppage on Saturday.
CPKC restarted railway operations in Canada 12:01 a.m. Monday, with the company asking union employees to return to work for the day shift on Sunday in preparation. CN trains had started running again as early as Friday morning before the Teamsters served the rail with a 72-hour strike notice in a longshot bid to challenge the CIRB decision and keep a work stoppage in play. CN resumed operations again early Monday.
With the notice, the Teamsters at CN intended on going on strike Monday at 10 a.m.
That strike notice was voided the next day once the CIRB made the decision.
While the Teamsters said Saturday that it would lawfully comply with the board’s decision, the union also said it would appeal the ruling to federal court.
“This decision by the CIRB sets a dangerous precedent,” said Paul Boucher, president of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, in a statement. “It signals to Corporate Canada that large companies need only stop their operations for a few hours, inflict short-term economic pain, and the federal government will step in to break a union. The rights of Canadian workers have been significantly diminished today.”
The major concern in the leadup to the work stoppage was the halting of freight throughout Canada, particularly products like grain, lumber, iron ore and coal, with many businesses arguing that rail service was essential in keeping the country’s public health afloat. The CIRB had determined that the service was not essential, allowing for a strike to occur, but admitted that a work stoppage would result in economic hardship for Canada.
As such, shippers had to scramble to figure out alternate ways for cargo to enter the country, with more product being diverted away from the Ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert to U.S. ports like Seattle, Tacoma, Los Angeles and Long Beach.
MacKinnon’s decision merely 16 hours after the lockout began suggests that the federal government grew more concerned about the impact of a suspended nationwide rail system, despite initial claims that it wanted the parties to hash out a new contract on their own without appointing a third party.
In a Saturday statement, CPKC said it will take “several weeks for the railway network to fully recover from this work stoppage and a period of time beyond that for supply chains to stabilize.”
As specified in the CIRB’s order, the existing collective agreements between the company and the union remain in force. The labor board will convene a case management meeting with the parties on Thursday to discuss the imposition of final binding interest arbitration.
CSX, BNSF and Norfolk Southern reach tentative deals months ahead of deadline
At the same time the Canadian railroads have been struggling to find middle ground with the union, three major U.S. railways have made headway with several unions well ahead of contract deadlines in an effort to avoid a similar labor disruption.
CSX has reached tentative deals on new five-year collective bargaining agreements with 12 unions covering more than 50 percent of its union employees. Terms include average wage increases of 3.5 percent per year over five years and unspecified improvements in paid vacation and health care.
Norfolk Southern and BNSF Railway also said Friday reached agreements with four unions and three labor groups, respectively. The railroad pacts have similar terms to the CSX deal, and cover approximately 30 percent of the unionized Norfolk Southern employees and 15 percent of BNSF workers.
The deals were stuck more than four months before the current collective agreements become amendable under the federal Railway Labor Act.
All the tentative agreements are subject to ratification by the unions’ membership. According to Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) directing general chairperson, John McCloskey, the agreements, if ratified, “take away the uncertainty of when the next round of national negotiations will be completed, and if and when annual pay increases will be implemented.”