This story originally appeared on Trains.com.
OTTAWA, Ontario — The Canada Industrial Relations Board has affirmed the decision by Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon to end the work stoppages at Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City, requiring the railroads to resume operations and to impose binding arbitration between the railroads and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference to resolve new contract terms.
Operations are to resume by 12:01 a.m. ET on Monday, Aug. 26, while the labor contract that expired on Dec. 31, 2023, is extended until a new agreement is completed. The start of the arbitration process will begin with a meeting with the CIRB on Thursday, Aug. 29, at 11 a.m. ET.
In response to the decision this evening (Saturday, Aug. 24), the union has said it will comply, but will also appeal the CIRB ruling to federal court.
“This decision by the CIRB sets a dangerous precedent,” TCRC President Paul Boucher said in a statement. “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. The rights of Canadian workers have been significantly diminished today.”
Trains News Wire is awaiting comment from the two railroads.
The board, in a pair of decisions — one addressing each railroad — said it determined it “does not have the authority to review the minister’s directions or to assess their validity,” saying that is a matter for the courts, and that it further “has no discretion for ability to refuse to implement, in whole or in part, the minister’s directions or to modify their terms.”
MacKinnon had announced his decision to send the matter to arbitration on Thursday, but rail operations remained in limbo as CPKC awaited the board’s ruling before advancing its plans to restart operations and the union kept its picket lines up at that railroad in the interim. CN ended its lockout on Thursday at 6 p.m. and the union originally said it would return, but then issued a strike notice effective at 10 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 26, while it awaited the CIRB action, saying the move was intended to “pressure CN into negotiating an agreement”
— This is a developing story.
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