CN Labor Dispute Goes to Arbitration

Canadian National Railway and its locomotive engineers in the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference will send their wage and benefit contract impasse to binding arbitration after failing to negotiate an accord through direct talks.

Compensation was one of several issues behind a five-day strike that ended Dec. 2 under threatened government intervention.

Earlier negotiations collapsed in November, leading CN to impose its own 1.5 percent pay hike along with work-rule changes. 

The walkout ended as Parliament was considering legislation to order the locomotive drivers back into the cabs and as terminals around Canada reported scattered but growing signs the strike was beginning to disrupt normal supply chains.

Various shipper sources said the strike could have become a serious threat to the economy had it lasted into the second week.

When CN and the TCRC agreed to end the strike and resume talks, they also said they would send their wage and benefit issues to third-party arbitration if they could not agree on contract terms.

Now, CN said the federal labor minister will “appoint an arbitrator, who will have 90 days following his or her appointment to report to the minister with a final decision on a new collective agreement. Nothing precludes CN or the TCRC from agreeing to further negotiations once the arbitration process starts.

“Under the dispute resolution mechanism of the Dec. 2, memorandum of settlement, no further strike action is permitted by the TCRC, nor can CN lockout TCRC members.”

Contact John D. Boyd at jboyd@joc.com.