Binding Arbitration in Rail Dispute Triggers Protest, Calls for Railway Nationalization

The Teamsters Union protested in Halifax this week against the federal government’s decision to impose binding arbitration in a dispute with Canada’s two major railway companies.

Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) locked out roughly 10,000 workers represented by Teamsters Canada Rail Conference last week after contract negotiations reached an impasse.

The union was prepared to strike over issues including employee fatigue provisions and had served a strike notice to CPKC, but a coordinated lockout by CN and CPKC preempted the strike action.

Under pressure from businesses, the federal Labour Minister directed the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to order the companies to resume operations and the employees to return to work.

He also instructed the CIRB to impose binding arbitration and to extend the collective agreements until the arbitrator has imposed a new deal.

The Teamsters said they would comply but vowed to fight the decision in Federal Court, arguing that it violates their constitutional right to strike. On Friday, the union announced that it had filed four separate lawsuits with the Federal Court of Appeal.

Protest in Halifax

The protest took place outside a Liberal Party fundraiser in downtown Halifax on Tuesday, attended by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“The message to the government is that they have violated our members’ Charter rights,” Christopher Monette, director of public affairs for Teamsters Canada, told the NB Media Co-op.

He said the Minister’s decision shows private industry that “the government will swoop in and save them” in a conflict with labor. CN and CPKC didn’t make anyone available for an interview.

During the lockout, CN workers in Moncton picketed in the industrial park on Edinburgh Drive, near the local rail yard.

“We’re willing to go to work, and we’re willing to negotiate at the bargaining table,” said a member of Teamsters Canada Division 162 Moncton, who declined to identify himself.

Railway Nationalization

Questions have emerged about whether the private sector should be in charge of Canada’s railways, as the federal government ordered CN and CPKC to resume operations in the interest of the economy.

“If it’s so essential to the Canadian economy, why is it being controlled by two for-profit companies that are primarily beholden to their shareholders?” asked Stephanie Ross, a professor in the School of Labour Studies at McMaster University.

“Maybe rail infrastructure actually should be nationalized, and it’s not appropriate for something that is the backbone of the economy to be held in private hands.”

She noted that the railway companies, which function as a national “duopoly,” brought the country to the brink of a virtual economic shutdown.

The Globe & Mail also published an op-ed this week that suggested “at least a partial nationalization” of the two railways. The NB Media Co-op has reached out to Transport Canada and the Prime Minister’s Office for comment.

Nationalization would represent a massive policy reversal: CN is a former Crown corporation that was sold to private investors in 1995 under the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien.

Monette, the Teamsters spokesperson, said the union doesn’t have a position on railway nationalization.

Fatigue Provisions

The Teamsters have said that CPKC, which was formed last year in a merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern, “aims to gut the collective agreement of all safety-critical fatigue provisions.” CPKC has denied that they have put forward anything that creates a safety risk.

Meanwhile, CN put forward a “forced relocation scheme,” according to the Teamsters, that “would see workers ordered to move across the country for months at a time to fill labour shortages in remote areas of Canada.”

CN has stated that relocations “would be on a voluntary basis and based on labor availability and need,” and that this kind of arrangement is already in place as part of regional agreements.

The company’s offer also involves “longer workdays in all provinces west of Ontario,” according to the union.

Rollbacks of fatigue-related provisions could lead to derailments, the Teamsters have warned.

This raises the spectre of the deadly 2013 rail disaster in Lac-Mégantic, Que., and last year’s derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

It’s difficult to parse the conflicting claims without being present for negotiations, but Ross noted that fatigue has been “consistently flagged” as an issue by the Transportation Safety Board.

“There’s no question that the federal government’s agency has flagged this as an ongoing issue where improvements are needed,” she said.

She also noted that many employers have complained about labour shortages and have attempted to “intensify” the job by getting employees to work longer hours.

The prospect of a prolonged stoppage on Canadian freight lines resulted in pressure from business associations and politicians who called on the federal government to step in.

Ahead of the lockout, recently appointed New Brunswick Senator Jim Quinn called for back-to-work legislation. Premier Blaine Higgs also called for binding arbitration in a statement on social media.

The NB Media Co-op reached out to the offices of Senator Quinn and Premier Higgs with queries about issues including working conditions but received no reply.

David Gordon Koch is a journalist with the NB Media Co-op. This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Stations and Users (CACTUS).