Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Canada's 2 Major Freight Railroads at a Full Stop; Government Officials Scramble
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 9 months ago on
August 22, 2024

Canada's major freight railroads halt operations due to contract dispute, threatening economic impact across North America. (AP/The Canadian Press)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

TORONTO — Business and consumers throughout Canada and the U.S. could suffer significant economic harm after Canada’s major freight railroads came to a full stop Thursday because of a contract dispute with their workers.

Canadian government officials met urgently to discuss the shutdown. Canadian National and CPKC railroads both locked out their employees after the 12:01 a.m. EDT deadline Thursday passed without new agreements with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, which represents about 10,000 engineers, conductors and dispatchers. Contract talks were set to resume later Thursday morning.

Rail Traffic Halted Across Canada

All rail traffic in Canada and all shipments crossing the U.S. border have stopped, although CPKC and CN’s trains continue operating in the U.S. and Mexico.

Billions of dollars of goods move between Canada and the U.S. via rail each month, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Many companies across all industries rely on railroads to deliver their raw materials and finished products, so without regular rail service they may have to cut back or even close.

Both railroads have said they would end the lockout if the union agrees to binding arbitration. The head of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference blamed the railroads for the lockout in a post to X Thursday morning as bargaining was set to resume.

“They are now holding the Canadian economy hostage to try and pressure the liberal government to impose final binding arbitration and take your rights away to free collective bargaining,” said union president Paul Boucher.

Government Urged to Intervene

Business groups have urged the government to intervene, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declined to immediately force the parties into binding arbitration for fear of offending the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference and other unions.

Canadian Minister of Public Services and Procurement Jean-Yves Duclos urged both sides to resolve their differences.

“They need to do their job to come to an agreement quickly,” he said at a news conference.

Canadian Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon had meetings scheduled “all day on this extremely important matter,” according to a statement from MacKinnon’s office.

“The rail shutdown at CN and CPKC is already costing workers, transit users and businesses across the country, and we cannot afford to let things get worse,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford posted on X. “Both the employers and union leadership should get back to the table at once so they can reach a fair deal to end this.”

Economic Impact and Business Concerns

Business leaders fumed over the lack of government intervention.

“When you completely shut down the coast-to-coast supply chain, nothing good can come from that,” said John Corey, president of the Freight Management Association of Canada. “This is infuriating. People are going to lose their jobs. There is going to be a real hardship to the economy.”

Most businesses will probably have enough supplies on hand and enough room to store their finished products to withstand a brief disruption. But ports and other railroads will quickly become clogged with stranded shipments that Canadian National and CPKC won’t pick up.

Edward Jones analyst Jeff Windau said the biggest problems will start if the lockout drags on, but many companies will likely be able to withstand a short disruption partly because of changes they made to their supply chains after the pandemic.

Most previous Canadian rail stoppages have only lasted a day or two and usually involved only one of the big railroads, but some have stretched as long as eight or nine days. Pressure for government intervention will increase as the lockout continues, with the impact magnified because both railroads are stopped.

“They are so integrated and tied into the economy — just the breadth of products that they haul — they touch all aspects,” Windau said. “Ultimately, I think we need the rails to continue to be running. And so at some point the government will start to get involved more.”

Chemical businesses and food distributors will be among the first to be affected. The railroads stopped accepting new shipments of hazardous materials and perishable goods as they began gradually shutting down last week.

The auto industry also may see problems quickly because it relies on just-in-time shipments to dealerships, with significant cross-border deliveries of engines, parts and finished vehicles. Flavio Volpe, President of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, posted on X that about four out of every five cars made in Canada are exported to the U.S. almost exclusively by rail. He said a prolonged lockout could cause temporary work stoppages throughout the industry, similar to the impact of the 5-day 2022 Ambassador Bridge blockade

Union Pacific, one of the U.S. rails that regularly hands off shipments to and from the Canadians, said the stoppage “means thousands of cars per day will not move across the border.”

“Everything from grain and fertilizer during the critical summer season, and lumber for building homes could be impacted,” Union Pacific said in a statement Thursday.

More than 30,000 commuters in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal were the first to feel the pain of the lockouts. They had to scramble Thursday morning to find a new way to work because their commuter trains aren’t able to operate while CPKC is shut down.

CN had been negotiating with the Teamsters for nine months while CPKC had been trying to reach an agreement for a year, the unions said.

The U.S. also faced the threat of a widespread rail shutdown two years ago, but the Biden administration forced all the rail unions to accept a contract despite their concerns about demanding schedules and the lack of paid sick time.

The Canadian negotiations are stuck on issues related to the way rail workers are scheduled and concerns about rules designed to prevent fatigue and provide adequate rest to train crews. Both railroads had proposed shifting away from the existing system, which pays workers based on the miles in a trip, to an hourly system that they said would make it easier to provide predictable time off. The union said it doesn’t want to lose hard-fought fatigue protections.

The railroads said their contract offers have included raises consistent with recent deals in the industry. Engineers make about $150,000 a year on Canadian National while conductors earn $120,000, and CPKC says its wages are comparable.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

UP NEXT

Trump Trade War Has Already Had Huge Effect on California Ports

Fresno State Baseball Team Bounced From NCAA Regional

48 minutes ago

Israeli Forces Open Fire a Kilometer Away From Gaza Aid Site, Killing 3, Health Officials Say

59 minutes ago

Disney Is Laying off Several Hundred Employees Globally, Source Says

(Reuters) – Walt Disney is laying off several hundred employees globally in teams including marketing for film and television, publici...

27 seconds ago

People visit the Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., April 18, 2022. (AP File)
27 seconds ago

Disney Is Laying off Several Hundred Employees Globally, Source Says

30 minutes ago

Giants’ Pitching Is Winning Games Despite Team’s Hitting Struggles

Demonstrators protest outside the Center for Disease Control, in Atlanta, after the Trump administration began mass layoffs of 10,000 staffers at U.S. health agencies under the Department of Health and Human Services, including the FDA, CDC and the National Institutes of Health, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. April 1, 2025. REUTERS/Megan Varner/File Photo
47 minutes ago

Trump Asks US Supreme Court to Allow Mass Federal Layoffs

48 minutes ago

Fresno State Baseball Team Bounced From NCAA Regional

Palestinians pray during the funeral of a person who was killed while heading to a Gaza aid hub, along with three others who were killed during an Israeli strike, as they gather at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, June 1, 2025. (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)
59 minutes ago

Israeli Forces Open Fire a Kilometer Away From Gaza Aid Site, Killing 3, Health Officials Say

AB Hernandez, center, flashes a sign as she shares the first-place spot on the podium with Jillene Wetteland, left, and Lelani Laruelle during a medal ceremony for the high jump at the California high school track-and-field championships in Clovis, Calif., Saturday, May 31, 2025. In a rules compromise, AB Hernandez shared first place in the high jump and triple jump in the California high school championship, and shared spots on the awards podium, too. (Adam Perez/The New York Times)
1 hour ago

Trans Athlete in Political Storm Earns, and Shares, First Place in Event

U.S. President Donald Trump walks as he departs for Pennsylvania, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 30, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura/File Photo
2 hours ago

Trump Budget Proposes Closing Northeast Heating Oil Reserve

A ticket reading "sold" hangs from an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle in Pasadena, Md., Jan. 14, 2013. The Supreme Court announced on Monday that it would not hear a major Second Amendment challenge to a Maryland law banning semiautomatic rifles like the AR-15. As is the court’s practice, its brief order gave no reasons. (Steve Ruark/The New York Times)
2 hours ago

Supreme Court Turns Down Challenge to Ban on Semiautomatic Rifles

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend