Canadian National Railway has formally notified the Teamsters Union that it will start locking out union workers as early as Thursday following a similar move by Canadian Pacific Kansas City.
Canadian National Railway, one of Canada’s two leading rail companies, formally notified the Teamsters Union last Sunday that it will start locking out union workers this week.
The union represents more than 125,000 members in all industries.
A strike would inflict billions of dollars worth of economic damage.
It would seriously impact the delivery of Canadian lumber and wood products moved by rail to major shipping ports on the West Coast, with exports from the Port of Vancouver worth more than US $22 billion a year.
“Unless there is an immediate and definite resolution to the labour conflict, Canadian National Railway will have no choice but to continue the phased and progressive shutdown of its network, which would culminate in a lockout,” CNR said in a statement.
“Despite negotiations, no meaningful progress has occurred, and the parties remain very far apart.”
Canada’s other rail operator, Canadian Pacific Kansas City, has already told the Teamsters union it will start locking out members early this week.
This means that barring last-minute labour agreements between the companies and their respective arms of the Teamsters Union would bring the vast majority of rail transit goods in Canada to a halt.
Teamsters also issued a 72-hour strike notice to CPKC late last Sunday.
“Unless parties reach last-minute agreements, a work stoppage will occur at 00:01 on Thursday, August 22,” it said in a statement.
The companies and the union accuse each other of bad faith in the talks. The teamsters say CN Rail and CPKC are seeking concessions that could endanger worker safety, a charge both the operators deny.
CPKC and Canadian National Railway Co. have been halting shipments in preparation for potential work stoppages by a combined 9,000 workers.
Contract talks between the Teamsters Union and railway companies usually take place a year apart, but in 2022, after the federal government introduced new rules on fatigue, CN requested a year-long extension to its existing deal rather than negotiate a new one.
This meant that both companies’ labour agreements expired at the end of 2023, and talks were ongoing. As a result, for the first time, the failure of negotiations would halt a vast majority of the Canadian freight rail system.
