Striking Workers At Canadian Railroads Ordered To Return To Work

An arbitrator appointed by the Canadian government has ordered employees at the country’s two major railroads to return to work, in an effort to protect the North American economy, Josh Funk and Rob Gillies reported for the Associated Press (AP).

The Teamsters union, representing the workers, stated that it will comply with the Canada Industrial Relations Board order and send its members back to work. I Photo: Teamsters Canada

The order, issued on Saturday, allows Canadian National (CN) to continue operating the trains it restarted Friday morning, just over a day after it locked out workers.

Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) will likely resume operations at 12:01 a.m. Monday, when workers are expected to return.

Railroads play a crucial role in the economy, with CPKC and CN delivering more than CA$1 billion (US$730 million) worth of shipments daily and carrying billions of dollars of goods between the U.S. and Canada each month.

Although both companies’ trains in the U.S. and Mexico continued operating, the lockouts caused significant disruptions. Smaller short-line freight railroads continued operating across Canada but were unable to hand off shipments to the major railroads while they were idle.

The Teamsters union, representing the workers, stated that it will comply with the Canada Industrial Relations Board order and send its members back to work, but it also plans to challenge the arbitration order legally.