Canadian trains are back on track, at least for now. A Canadian labor board ruled Saturday that unionized rail employees for Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) had to come back to the office Monday.
"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," wrote Canada Industrial Relations Board Chairwoman Ginette Brazeau.
[RELATED: Union issues strike notice in Canadian rail labor dispute]
While the ruling was issued Saturday and Canadian Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon asked workers to return as soon as possible, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference representatives declined to return before Monday, when the board ruled employees must go back to work.
Companies say the recovery will take several weeks. Binding arbitration will start Thursday. However, the Teamsters say they will challenge the ruling.
"The TCRC is extremely disappointed in the recent CIRB decisions," Paul Boucher, president of the rail union, wrote in a statement. "Rest assured we will be challenging these rulings in court."
