The Canadian rail work stoppage, an on-again-off-again threat to U.S. and Canadian supply chains, may be on again as the union issued a 72-hour notice of a strike to Canadian National Railway Co. (CN).
On Thursday, CN and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) locked out more than 9,000 unionized workers from the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference. Both sides blamed the other on the stoppage. After fewer than 20 hours of stoppage, Canada's Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon ordered all parties into binding arbitration with the Canadian Industrial Relations Board.
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After the order, CN lifted its lockout, Teamsters removed picket lines and trains started rolling again. CPKC trains remained parked as the company said it wanted to resume operations but pointed to Teamsters not cooperating. Union members, joined by Sean O'Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, rallied outside CPKC headquarters in Calgary on Friday.
"There are a lot of goods and services shipped across borders," the Associated Press reported O'Brien said at the rally. "If this company chooses to continue its bad behavior, then it is going to have an impact."
Union spokesperson Marc-André Gauthier said the Teamsters planned to challenge the order forcing it into arbitration. Still, both railways and the union are scheduled with the arbitrator on Friday, and, since CN trains are moving, the union issued a 72-hour strike notice to the railway.
"This is not about disobeying the ministers order," says Teamsters Canada President Francois Laporte. "We will exercise our right within the legal framework."
