UPDATE: Ottawa Requests Binding Arbitration for Railway Strike

Thursday, 22 August 2024 05:40

It's the first-ever simultaneous work stoppage for CN Railway and CKPC.

UPDATE: Ottawa has asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board to impose final binding arbitration to end the railway strike.

The board held a virtual meeting last night with officials from CN Railway, CPKC, and the Teamsters union.

The lockout at CN Railway has since ended, but CPKC says it's waiting for the board's order before it provides details regarding its service resumption. As a result, Metrolinx says GO Transit service will not resume the Milton line or at the Hamilton GO station today.

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CANADA - More than 9,000 rail employees with Canadian National (CN) Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) have been locked out.

This comes after both railways failed to agree on new contracts with the Teamsters union by midnight last night, sparking the first-ever simultaneous work stoppage at both railways.

Freight trains across the country ground to a halt and there are concerns that economic chaos could ensue because the two railways haul about a billion dollars in goods each day.

The work stoppage is also affecting thousands of people who take the CPKC commuter lines in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto. This includes GO train service on the Milton line and at the Hamilton GO station.

CN Moves Forward with Lock Out

Learn more: https://t.co/HsIzTVrR9Z pic.twitter.com/7pNYBWoWE5
— Canadian National (@CNRailway) August 22, 2024

CPKC locks out TCRC employees, moves to full shut down of Canadian rail network: https://t.co/U6NjUTggBL pic.twitter.com/J1zGTpJTvn
— CPKC (@CPKCrail) August 22, 2024

‼️Despite months of good faith negotiations on the part of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, parties remain far apart, and both CN and CPKC have began their lockout of 00:01 today.#canlab https://t.co/rXR9QymzVW
— Teamsters Canada (@TeamstersCanada) August 22, 2024