Labour Minister Steven Mackinnon is calling upon CN Rail, the Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference to “do the hard work necessary” to prevent a potential railway stoppage on Thursday that could have an economic impact worth billions of dollars.
In a new statement on Monday, Mackinnon gave no indication the federal government would be willing to intervene in collective bargaining negotiations.
“These collective bargaining negotiations belong to CN Rail, CPKC and the TCRC workers alone – but their effects will be borne by all Canadians,” Mackinnon said.
Negotiations between CN, CPKC and the teamsters continued over the weekend with no signs of progress.
Late Sunday, the Teamsters released a press release saying workers will walk off the job as of 12:01 a.m. Eastern Thursday unless the parties can reach an agreement. CN later issued its own notice that it intends to lock out workers unless an agreement or binding arbitration happens.
Last week, Mackinnon already rejected a request from CN to impose binding arbitration.
More to come…
