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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hinted Thursday that his government will soon unveil a plan to help bring an end to the ongoing railway shutdown — but his options may be limited.
“We will have more to say shortly on what we are doing to make sure the right solution is found quickly for the economy,” he said during a stop in the Eastern Townships region of Quebec.
Canadian National Railway Co. (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. (CPKC) locked out 9,300 engineers, conductors and yard workers Thursday morning after the parties failed to agree on a new contract.
Freight traffic on Canada’s two major railways stopped early Thursday. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government is not taking the situation ‘lightly, because Canadians across the country are worried.’
Contract talks between the union and the two companies usually take place a year apart, but in 2022 — after the federal government introduced new rules — CN requested a year-long extension to its existing deal.
This first-ever simultaneous shutdown of both rail networks has blocked the movement of roughly $1 billion in goods.
Mark Thompson, a former labour arbitrator and professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia, said the unprecedented nature of the work stoppage is putting heavy pressure on the government to act.
“No government of whatever persuasion is going to stand by and let a national [work stoppage] by both railroads go on for very long. The impact on the economy is simply too great,” he said.
Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code allows the government to refer a labour dispute to the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) for binding arbitration.
The railway companies and a number of other business advocacy organizations have been calling on Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to refer this dispute to arbitration. MacKinnon has declined those requests and has instead urged the parties to hammer it out at the negotiating table.
But Lisa Raitt, who served as labour minister in the government of former prime minister Stephen Harper, said referring the dispute to the CIRB wouldn’t instantly end the work stoppage. She said the companies and the union would first have to agree to binding arbitration.
“You can try to get the parties to agree to binding arbitration. Maybe you can write to the CIRB and ask them to impose binding arbitration — highly unlikely. But there’s no way a minister can write a letter and say that everyone goes back to work and I’m sending you to binding arbitration,” she said.
“If you find a lawyer who can tell you that it’s possible [for the minister to order the parties into arbitration], then I wish I had their advice 15 years ago. But as far as I’m concerned, you aren’t able to do that.”
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MacKinnon’s predecessor, Seamus O’Regan, referred the labour dispute between WestJet and the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association to the CIRB for arbitration in July. The board still allowed a strike to happen.
O’Regan also asked the board to go to binding arbitration last summer during the B.C. port strike. The parties ended up reaching a deal two days later.
Thompson said that while the government could still attempt to get the parties into arbitration, using that tool too often can undermine future labour negotiations.
“Bargaining can atrophy if the parties are expecting arbitration to solve their problems,” he said.
“The government has to take the long view. Every employer association in the country practically has demanded arbitration, but they just want to solve their problem now. Whereas if you’re the federal government, you’ve got to worry about the next set of negotiations.”
The government also could reconvene Parliament to pass back-to-work legislation.
When asked on Wednesday, MacKinnon wouldn’t say if the government is considering back-to-work legislation. He didn’t rule out the possibility.
“I’m not going to get into what-ifs. The parties have to understand one thing very clearly, that it is in their hands, that the stakes are high, that Canadians are counting on them, that businesses are counting on them, that unionized Canadian workers and other workplaces are counting on them,” MacKinnon CBC News Network’s Power & Politics.
“Commuters are counting on them. Farmers are counting on them. These people need to understand very, very clearly that it is their duty to get a deal.”
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The Liberals used back-to-work legislation in both 2021 and 2018. Raitt said it might be the only option in this circumstance, given the risk to the economy.
“I really see no choice for the federal government but to have back-to-work legislation and then a process to settle the collective agreement for the parties,” she said.
But Thompson said the government would need to know it had a dance partner in the House of Commons willing to pass the legislation before recalling MPs back to Ottawa for a rare summer sitting.
“No government… is going to say ‘We’re ordering you guys back to Ottawa for legislation,’ and then don’t have it passed,” he said
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he doesn’t want to see any move by the Liberal government that ‘interferes with the fair negotiation of a contract.’ A shutdown of Canada’s two main railroads began early Thursday after labour talks fell apart.
The NDP has a confidence-and-supply agreement with the Liberals that sees its MPs support the minority government on confidence votes. The NDP has called on the government not to intervene in the dispute.
“We’re not going to accept any interference, whether that’s forcing arbitration, whether that’s forcing back-to-work [legislation]. None of that is allowed on our watch. We’re going to fight and oppose that,” NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh told reporters Thursday from the CN picket line in Montreal.
CBC News has reached out to the Conservatives and the Bloc Québécois for comment on the railway stoppage but has yet to receive a response.
Source: cbc
