A labor dispute north of the U.S. border has Canadian rail workers on strike, possibly as early as Thursday, with U.S. companies calling for government intervention.
The U.S. and Canadian Chambers of Commerce issued a warning Tuesday about possible rail service shutdowns, saying they could have a “significant impact” on the U.S. economy.
“The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce are calling on the Canadian government to intervene immediately to avoid disruptions to Canada’s rail network. The suspension of rail service would be devastating to Canadian businesses and families and have a significant impact on the U.S. economy,” the business lobby groups said.
The U.S. and Canadian rail networks are operationally integrated, so any outages on the Canadian side of the border would have an immediate impact on the U.S. side, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said.
“The Canadian government must take steps to ensure the continued reliable movement of goods between our two countries,” the group said.
Up to 2,500 Union Pacific railcars heading to the United States each day will be stranded north of the border, Union Pacific CEO Jim Bena said in a letter to Canadian Labour Minister Steve McKinnon, Reuters reported.
The Canadian Teamsters on Sunday handed in a 72-hour strike notice to Calgary-based railroad operator CPKC. Earlier in August, CPKC announced it would issue a lockout notice to Teamsters employees, effective Thursday. Canadian National Railway (CN) is also involved in the dispute, Similar lockout notifications Sunday.
The Canadian Labour Relations Board (CPKC) said it moved to issue the lockout notice following a decision that the company would not be required to maintain extra service in the event of a rail strike. The Teamsters have refused to submit to private arbitration on the matter, the CPKC added.
The Canadian Teamsters have fought for greater transparency about when workers report to work, among other contract provisions.
“CPKC is pressuring the union for concessions that will make it even harder for workers to predict when they will be called to work and create fatigue-related safety risks,” the Teamsters said in a statement. “The company is attempting to undermine provisions of the Canada Labour Code.”
CPKC described its proposal as “a status quo three-year contract renewal with competitive wage increases in line with recent settlements.”
CPKC reported second-quarter net income of C$903 million. The company reported profits of $1.7 billion and total revenues of $7.1 billion last year. Company declarations.
