Rail workers union serves CN rail with 72-hour strike notice, CPKC stoppage ongoing

Rail workers in Medicine Hat returned to the picket line in front of the CPKC Rail Medicine Hat Yard downtown on Friday.

“We keep striking until we are told otherwise,” Ron Peters, president of the local Teamsters Division 322, told CHAT News.

“I know that the government has said what they said and, until I hear from my higher-ups, we keep walking.”

Peters was unimpressed with Thursday’s intervention by the federal government.

“To do it less than 24 hours after we hit the picket lines is kind of a kick in the face, personally.”

‘Utmost urgency’

The labour board summoned the parties to a meeting Thursday night, followed by a hearing Friday morning.

The tribunal said in an email it is addressing the issue “with utmost urgency.” A decision is expected later in the day.

Pickets continue at the head office of CPKC in Calgary and those on the line received a visit from Francois Laporte, the national president of Teamsters Canada Friday morning.

Laporte and Sean O’Brien, the general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters arrived in a black semi truck, its horns blaring, with Teamsters written on the side.

O’Brien called the lockouts by both rail companies “a disgrace.”

“This is not over. I’m telling you this is not over. The struggle continues,” Laporte said to about 70 people who were on hand.

Before making the binding arbitration directive, the labour minister had faced pressure to intervene from business groups, which warned of the economic consequences of the work stoppage and urged Ottawa to break the deadlock and kick-start freight service.

At a Thursday news conference, MacKinnon said the government is “committed totally to collective bargaining,” but said the impacts of the shutdown are being felt by all Canadians.

The government gave the negotiations “every possible opportunity to succeed,” he said.

Each side had accused the other of failing to negotiate seriously, with wages and scheduling as key sticking points. The union had said it rejected binding arbitration, framing Ottawa’s decision as a move to “sidestep” it.

“Despite claiming to value and honour the collective bargaining process, the federal government quickly used its authority to suspend it, mere hours after an employer-imposed work stoppage,” said Paul Boucher, president of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, in a release Thursday evening.

The union has said both companies are pushing to weaken protections around rest periods and scheduling. It says CN also seeks a scheme that would see some employees move to far-flung locations for several months at a time to fill labour gaps.

CN pushed back on Friday, saying the Teamsters are “holding Canada hostage to their demands.”

“CN is focused on recovery in order to resume powering the economy. The Teamsters are focused on returning to the pickets and shutting everything down again,” said spokesman Jonathan Abecassis in a phone interview.

In Calgary, Laporte said he understood that the Teamsters at CN gave 72 hours strike notice this morning and as far as he’s concerned the dispute will continue.

“Our people are still on strike. We’re still on the streets so our operation will not resume. It is not going to be business as usual for both companies.”

O’Brien said the International Teamsters fully support their Canadian colleagues.

“Corporate greed is running rampant,” he told reporters at a picket outside CPKC headquarters in Calgary on Friday morning. “Reward these workers with what they have earned. But also don’t try to diminish safety.”

“What’s important here is not to lose sight of the fact of who caused this problem right now. They chose to lock these workers out,” O’Brien said.

“We got your backs 100 per cent.”

Businesses face higher costs

The ongoing labour dispute between Canada’s largest railway companies and their workers is driving up the cost of shipping by truck, with smaller businesses disproportionately affected.

READ: Shipping by truck not realistic for a pair of Medicine Hat businesses

The co-founder of a Canadian startup said he’s facing wildly inflated trucking costs due to the ongoing dispute, with one quoted price more than double what it would typically cost.

Brust Protein Coffee co-founder Josh Barr said he will lose money if he pays the approximately $11,000 quoted to him for a truckload from Toronto to Calgary.

“As a small, growing business, we need every single dollar, and we put every single dollar back into the business,” he said.

“This is just more or less wasted dollars because of an argument between the rail company and their employees.”

Though the federal government is intervening in the work stoppage that began early Thursday morning at Canada’s two major railways, the union is pushing back on the government’s efforts to get them back on the job, making it unclear when freight traffic will be fully back online.

Retail Council of Canada spokeswoman Michelle Wasylyshen said the trucking industry can’t possibly take on the sheer volume of goods normally sent by rail, driving demand higher and prices along with it.

“At the end of the day, there’s just simply not enough trucking capacity to make up for rail,” she said, adding that the longer the dispute drags on the worse the problem will get.

While larger retailers may have existing contracts with truckers at more normal prices, any companies scheduling at the last minute will be facing higher costs right now, she said. That will be a major problem in particular for smaller retailers that are less likely to have those kinds of contracts, she said.

But larger retailers aren’t immune either. Wasylyshen said she heard from one large retailer that on Friday, trucking costs were as much as six times what they would be otherwise.

One train railcar has the capacity of two trucks, according to Warren D’Souza, senior manager of market intelligence and national industrial lead at Avison Young.

“Switching to trucks would place demands on a trucking industry already stretched by a shortage in available truckers and by high fuel prices. Meanwhile, freight that is so large and heavy simply couldn’t be transported on trucks as an alternate solution to trains,” D’Souza said in an emailed statement.

Due to low capacity, freight rates are three to five times higher than normal, said Michael Graydon, CEO of the Food, Health & Consumer Products Of Canada association, in an email.

But the issue may be short-lived if the dispute is as well, he added.

“It is really a matter of supply and demand so if the railways get back up and running quickly then the cost increases will not be an issue,” Graydon said.

Though retailers have been trying to divert as much as possible to trucks, there could still be availability and price implications on a wider variety of products, said Wasylyshen.

Barr said he’s concerned that trucking companies may be taking advantage of the situation to raise prices, noting that after getting the initial $11,000 quote he reached out to another company and got a similar quote from them.

Normally this kind of shipment would cost just $2,000 to $3,000 by rail, he added.

Barr is delaying the shipment as late as he can to avoid paying the inflated cost.

“We’re not in that position to be able to spend that money,” he said. “I’m not Coca-Cola, I’m not Pepsi … we are a Canadian start-up.”

Barr can’t wait long: he needs to make the shipment by Monday or risk delaying his upcoming Walmart launch and potentially facing extra cost repercussions from that as well.

“Being put in this situation isn’t sustainable and certainly not fair. So hopefully they come to a solution very soon.”

by CHAT News Staff, Canadian Press

Rail workers union serves CN rail with 72-hour strike notice, CPKC stoppage ongoing

‘Utmost urgency’

Businesses face higher costs

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