Unless the Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) railroads and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) can reach agreement today both Canada’s Class I railroads will stop their Canadian operations at 12.01am on 22 August.

The rail companies want significant changes to working practices, including having Teamster members work longer shifts with more flexibility around existing scheduling and how locomotive engineers are deployed from their home base.

Speaking with Canada’s CTV news CN Rail spokesperson Jonathan Abecassis said CN has made four separate offers to the Teamsters, but they have refused to negotiate around any of them. The Teamsters have maintained, however, that the railroads are trying to bring in a fundamentally different shift system that would see workers deployed away from home for longer periods, thought the railroads maintain that this would be voluntary. As the Teamsters sees it the railroads are making  “company demands” rather than presenting a proposal that can be negotiated.

Today Abecassis said the sides are no closer to reaching an agreement. “Right now the union’s demands are simply not aligned with the reality of our business or with our ability to actually service customers efficiently,” he said. “We’re going to stay at the table until this gets done and hopefully we’re going to have a resolution. That being said, unless that happens quickly, we feel that the Federal Government will have to reevaluate its position and intervene in this conflict.”

As previously reported, this is not a step the Federal Government wants to take. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau heads a minority government, and its partner on confidence and supply issues has openly said it will not support back-to-work legislation.

With the clock ticking CN and CPKC are running out of options. CN has offered voluntary arbitration to get a resolution, which the Teamsters has refused. “The government intervention is not something we want, but we have no other option,” Abecassis reiterated.

Federal Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon had earlier rejected CN’s request to intervene in the dispute, but has since met with representatives from the three parties in Montreal on Tuesday and is in Calgary today. Meanwhile agricultural producer groups are ramping up calls for the government to intervene.

In joint statement the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA), Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM), and Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM) said Minister MacKinnon can and should require the parties to enter biding arbitration. “Canada’s Labour Code allows the Minister to require binding arbitration for situations just like the one looming later this week,” explained Bill Huber, SARM acting President. “Both CN and CPKC provide Prairie farmers with critical access to markets. Without trains running, the livelihoods of thousands of producers are at risk. If Minister MacKinnon does not act on requiring binding arbitration, he and his government must be willing to live with the economic and social consequences the decision will bring across the Prairies.”

Unless the Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) railroads and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) can reach agreement today both Canada’s Class I railroads will stop their Canadian operations at 12.01am on 22 August.

The rail companies want significant changes to working practices, including having Teamster members work longer shifts with more flexibility around existing scheduling and how locomotive engineers are deployed from their home base.

Speaking with Canada’s CTV news CN Rail spokesperson Jonathan Abecassis said CN has made four separate offers to the Teamsters, but they have refused to negotiate around any of them. The Teamsters have maintained, however, that the railroads are trying to bring in a fundamentally different shift system that would see workers deployed away from home for longer periods, thought the railroads maintain that this would be voluntary. As the Teamsters sees it the railroads are making  “company demands” rather than presenting a proposal that can be negotiated.

Today Abecassis said the sides are no closer to reaching an agreement. “Right now the union’s demands are simply not aligned with the reality of our business or with our ability to actually service customers efficiently,” he said. “We’re going to stay at the table until this gets done and hopefully we’re going to have a resolution. That being said, unless that happens quickly, we feel that the Federal Government will have to reevaluate its position and intervene in this conflict.”

As previously reported, this is not a step the Federal Government wants to take. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau heads a minority government, and its partner on confidence and supply issues has openly said it will not support back-to-work legislation.

With the clock ticking CN and CPKC are running out of options. CN has offered voluntary arbitration to get a resolution, which the Teamsters has refused. “The government intervention is not something we want, but we have no other option,” Abecassis reiterated.

Federal Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon had earlier rejected CN’s request to intervene in the dispute, but has since met with representatives from the three parties in Montreal on Tuesday and is in Calgary today. Meanwhile agricultural producer groups are ramping up calls for the government to intervene.

In joint statement the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA), Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM), and Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM) said Minister MacKinnon can and should require the parties to enter biding arbitration. “Canada’s Labour Code allows the Minister to require binding arbitration for situations just like the one looming later this week,” explained Bill Huber, SARM acting President. “Both CN and CPKC provide Prairie farmers with critical access to markets. Without trains running, the livelihoods of thousands of producers are at risk. If Minister MacKinnon does not act on requiring binding arbitration, he and his government must be willing to live with the economic and social consequences the decision will bring across the Prairies.”