Labour Minister Steve Mackinnon announced that he sent both of Canada’s two largest rail labour disputes to binding arbitration on Thursday, only hours after the official strike began.
Mackinnon announced that he has executed his ministerial powers to intervene between Canadian National Railway Co., Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. and Teamster Canada, the union representing both companies’ employees.
The parties involved failed to reach an agreement past the midnight deadline on Thursday, launching the country into an unprecedented railway strike.
Union employee rest time, scheduling and wages were at issue during the failed negotiations.
In response to the work stoppage, Mackinnon utilized section 107 of the Canada Labour Code, which enables Ottawa to refer a labour dispute to the Canada Industrial Relations Board for resolution.
The labour minister said he’s instructed the board to settle the outstanding terms of the two collective agreements and impose final binding arbitration.
“I have also directed the board to extend the term of the current collective agreements until new agreements have been signed, and for operations on both railways to resume forthwith,” Mackinnon told reporters on Thursday evening.
Mackinnon said he expects a resolution “very quickly,” announcing that the independent process could have railways active again “within days.”
However, he stressed that presently, “the parties remain very, very far apart on these issues.”
This tactic was implemented by former labour minister Seamus O’Regan to avert a strike by WestJet mechanics, which resolved outstanding issues within the collective agreement between the airline and the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association in June.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh criticized the Trudeau government’s decisions to get involved, calling it “anti-worker.”
“The Liberals’ actions are cowardly, anti-worker and proof that they will always cave to corporate greed, and Canadians will always pay for it,” said Singh in a statement.
“There will be no end to lockouts now. Every employer knows they can get exactly what they want from Justin Trudeau by refusing to negotiate with their workers in good faith. And that puts the safety of workers and communities at risk.”
The work stoppage has already caused disruptions in the supply chain, as the two companies combined account for around $1 billion in shipped goods daily.
Some 32,000 rail commuters have also been forced to find alternative transportation to get to and from work in cities like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
