The feared rail shutdowns in Canada began on Thursday after last-minute talks between the railroad company and the Canadian Teamsters union failed to resolve differences.
Two of Canada’s largest rail freight networks have been halted, leaving tens of thousands of commuters in major cities without transportation.
Canada’s two largest freight railroads, Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railway (CPKC), It got better On Thursday, they threatened to lock out more than 9,300 rail workers, conductors and engineers as the deadline for a new contract passed at midnight. The Teamsters Canadian Railway Congress simultaneously voted in favor of going on strike.
The outage has halted $1 billion worth of daily traffic and grounded passenger trains in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, where rail freight operators typically handle passenger service.
Negotiations between the railroad and the union were tense when they began earlier this year and quickly turned hostile, with each side accusing the other of making unfair demands and negotiating in bad faith.
One underlying problem is that rail companies, in order to keep operating costs down, require their highly paid employees to work long hours and flexible schedules – schedules that unions say are exploitative, increase employee fatigue and could lead to more rail accidents.
“Railroads don’t care about farmers, small businesses, their supply chains or their own employees; they are only focused on increasing profits, even if it means putting the entire economy at risk,” Canadian Teamsters president Paul Boucher said in a statement Thursday morning.
“The company has consistently presented serious proposals, including better wages, better rest and more predictable work schedules. The Teamsters have shown no urgency or willingness to reach an agreement that is good for employees, the company and the economy,” CN countered, while CPKC reiterated its demand for binding arbitration to resolve the dispute.
“We fully understand and recognize what this work stoppage means for Canadians and our economy,” CPKC said. said On Thursday.
Binding arbitration would require approval from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, who has Going out The dispute was halted at the request of the Canadian Left, who believe that binding arbitration would favour the railroad companies over the workers.
Trudeau, Wednesday said “It is in the best interest of both sides to continue working hard at the negotiating table to find a negotiated solution,” but he again rejected any action that could break the impasse.
“Millions of Canadians, workers, farmers and businesses across the country count on both sides to work hard to reach a resolution,” Trudeau said, rightly so, as the clock ticks down on catastrophe.
The prime minister is under increasing pressure from Canadian business groups to step in. The scale of the economic devastation that a rail shutdown would cause has captured much of the public’s attention over the past few weeks, but now that the unthinkable has become a reality, a hint of panic is creeping into the discussion.
“From an Alberta municipal perspective, this is not just a labour issue. It’s an economic development issue, it’s a community sustainability issue and it’s a food security issue,” warned Paul McLauchlin, chairman of Municipalities of Alberta, at the start of the strike.
“If we don’t intervene to protect rural livelihoods and communities, this will escalate from an industrial action to a situation that puts rural communities and the entire industry at risk,” Mr McLauchlin said.
“Canadians are already struggling with the rising cost of living, and this government needs to show decisive leadership that puts families and livelihoods first,” said Perrin Beatty, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. said CBC News on Thursday.
“The Minister of Labour must use all available tools to immediately resolve this dispute through binding arbitration,” Beatty demanded.
Labour Minister Steve McKinnon has so far refused to order arbitration over the labour dispute, and his office said on Thursday he had been “meeting throughout the day on this vital issue.”
Canada has had rail strikes before, but Thursday’s was the first time that both major freight rail lines were shut down at the same time. Contract negotiations with the two rail giants are usually staggered over different years to avoid a national shutdown, but this time the contracts of both CN and CPKC are up for renewal at the same time after one of the companies sought an emergency extension.
The Canadian rail closures are sure to have an impact on the U.S. economy. The Canadian Airlines Association said Thursday that rail transport is vital for providing fuel to major Canadian airports and that air travel, including on routes connecting with the U.S., will soon be disrupted by fuel shortages.
American Union Pacific Railroad Estimation The Canadian shutdown will take out more than 2,500 rail cars that normally travel between the U.S. and Canada each day, and the Canadian strike will significantly reduce freight capacity on U.S. railroads.
CN officials have warned that it could take up to five days to fully recover from each day of the national lockdown, and disruptions in both Canada and the United States could continue for weeks to come.
The situation could get dramatically worse if unionized employees in the U.S. decide to honor picket lines in Canada, as the United States Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen allowed to do this week.
Large industry groups sent warning letters to both U.S. and Canadian authorities this week, listing a multitude of “detrimental impacts to Canadian and U.S. agricultural producers, the agriculture industry, and national and global food security” if rail service is suspended for an extended period of time.
American consumers, already struggling with high inflation due to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ economic policies, will be dismayed to learn that their grocery bills could rise again because of the Canadian rail disaster.
Agricultural company executives warned that if the rail strike continued, food supplies would be immediately interrupted and food stocks would likely be eroded by spoilage. Neither the U.S. nor the Canadian trucking industry has the spare capacity to make up for the loss of Canadian rail freight traffic.
The strike comes at a terrible time for farmers, as Canada’s harvest season is just beginning. said Canadian farmers are expected to lose $43 million a day in the first week of the strike, and $50 million a day if it continues into the second week, he predicted Thursday.
“The economic impacts of this shutdown will be felt far beyond the farm – consumers may experience higher prices and shortages of grain-dependent foods, and farmers will suffer reduced income,” warned Andre Harp, president of the Canadian Grain Growers Association.
Barry Prentiss, director of the University of Manitoba’s Transportation Institute, expressed cautious optimism Thursday, saying the impact of the rail strike would be so great that rail company executives and union officials will be desperate to end it as quickly as possible.
“Given the impact on the general economy, I don’t think it will last long,” Prentiss said. said of The New York Times. “In the past, whenever this has happened, the government has been forced to convene Parliament and pass a bill to reopen the railways.”
This time, Canada’s far-left has disproportionate influence over the shaky Trudeau government and is determined to prevent the government from taking any action that the left sees as pro-business.
“For too long we have seen the Liberal and Conservative parties stepping in to these kinds of labour disputes to favour employers and disadvantage workers. This is wrong and we will oppose it,” declared Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), on Monday. The NDP was founded by Canada’s trade union movement.
