CPKN

By Chelsey St-Pierre
The Suburban

The commute of more than 21,000 Montrealers was impacted by the CPKN and CN strikes occurring simultaneously last Thursday. Dispatchers walked off the job at 12:01 a.m. along with 3,200 railway workers. In total, 9,300 workers were locked out Thursday until the federal government stepped in to force operations to resume. The strike shut down three important railway lines affecting the Greater Montreal Area (GMA), including Exo’s Candiac, Saint-Jerome and Vaudreuil/Hudson lines. Some Via Rail routes were facing potential transit issues as a result of being caught in the contract negotiation crossfires.

For Vaudreuil/Hudson commuters, this was an additional obstacle to the Ile-Aux-Tourtes bridge restrictions. “If it is not one thing, it is another,” a Vaudreuil resident said to The Suburban. “There are more problems than solutions. This is becoming an impossible situation.” To top it off, in September, two complete weekend closures are slated for repair work on the bridge. Meanwhile, traffic on the daily run is slowed due to intermittent lane closures. “They tell us to use public transport, but when that doesn’t work out, what are we supposed to do? Fly?” Another resident said. “Without the work of the CPKC rail traffic controllers, our trains on these three lines (affecting the GMA) would be unable to run,” Exo spokesman Eric Edström stated a day prior to the strike. “The bus shuttles that will be offered will not be able to compensate for the entire service of the three affected train lines.” GMA train line users were forced to find alternative routes for days, causing disruptions in the local workforce.

Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon — who is just over a month into his cabinet portfolio — invoked powers under Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code that allows the government to refer a labour dispute to the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) for binding arbitration. This effectively ended the strike. CN, CPKC and Teamsters Canada were forced by the invocation to resume operations and go back to the bargaining table.

“Neither CN nor CPKC has relented on their push to weaken protections around rest periods and scheduling, increasing the risk of fatigue-related safety issues,” Teamsters Canada stated prior to the decision.

Two days later, on Saturday, the federal labour board ruled that freight trains must start rolling again first thing Monday morning. Teamsters Canada issued a statement that it will comply with the tribunal’s decision — however, plans to file an appeal are underway.

“It signals to corporate Canada that large companies need only stop their operations for a few hours, inflict short-term economic pain and the federal government will step in to break a union,” president of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference Paul Boucher stated Saturday.

CN stated that while it is satisfied that the labour conflict has ended and it can get back to its role of powering the economy, the company is disappointed that a negotiated deal could not be achieved at the bargaining table despite its best efforts.

Despite the short-lived strike, the economic impact in a matter of hours was significant for goods transportation and public transit. The walk-out interrupted the transport of goods valued at close to $1 billion across Canada and the U.S. The total economic loss will take weeks to determine as thousands of businesses and industries were affected on multi-level platforms. With transit last in line, and some lines only resuming Monday this week, it can be gauged that it took up to five days for the re-routing, re-organizing and departure planning process to take place.

“Not only will the work stoppage negatively affect shipments of raw materials and goods essential for small business operations, but it will also lead to a decreased on-shelf availability of consumer products, including grocery and drugstore essentials and even baby formula,” CFIB chief executive Dan Kelly predicted in a press statement on Thursday. “Some small businesses are already reporting they will need to halt operations as they will no longer be able to receive critical inputs or meet their contractual obligations to customers.” n