(Ottawa) Aware that the Canadian Pacific labor dispute is already having serious consequences on the country’s supply chain, the Minister of Labor, Seamus O’Regan, nevertheless considers that it is preferable, for the moment, to allow both parties to reach a negotiated agreement.
Updated yesterday at 6:50 p.m.
The minister, who is also in Calgary, where the company’s head office is located, pointed out that negotiations between management and the union were continuing in the Alberta metropolis. He intends to stay in Calgary until an agreement is reached.
In an interview with The PressMonday evening, however, he indicated that his patience had limits.
“My friends and family will tell you that I’m not terribly patient by nature. This is also the case in the case before us. And I said it publicly. This conflict comes at the worst time. Canadians won’t have much patience either. Canadians want a deal now,” said O’Regan. He noted that the supply chain remains fragile following the COVID-19 pandemic, the floods in British Columbia and now the war in Ukraine.
But he believes that we still have to give the parties a chance to reach an agreement.
“Both parties have not left the negotiating table. They are fully aware of what is at stake. […] The best deals are made at the table. We are confident in the ability of the parties to reach an agreement. Canadians are counting on a quick resolution,” he said.
When Parliament resumed, the Conservative Party urged the Trudeau government to take the necessary steps to resolve the labor dispute without delay. He accused Minister O’Regan of “washing his hands of it”.
BLAIR GABLE PHOTO, REUTERS ARCHIVES
Seamus O’Regan
“This labor dispute is not a surprise. Everyone has been talking about it for weeks. And again, the Prime Minister is slow to act. Canadians are paying the price. The rest of the world will pay the price if a solution is not found quickly, ”argued the deputy leader of the Conservative Party, Luc Berthold, during question period in the Commons.
More than 3,000 Canadian Pacific (CP) employees – locomotive engineers, conductors, trainmen and yardmen – represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) have been on the picket line since Sunday following of the failure of the last negotiations.
CP and the union blamed each other for causing the work stoppage, although both also said they were still talking to federal mediators on Sunday.
For their part, business people and industrial groups that depend on CP for shipping goods have implored the Trudeau government to quickly introduce legislation to force the return to work as the dispute enters its second day. .
Leaders of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association and the National Cattle Feeders Association were in Ottawa Monday, urging the government to immediately end the work stoppage they say could devastate their industry.
“If those trains don’t run, we may only have two weeks of feed left,” said Canadian Cattlemen’s Association President Bob Lowe, explaining that cattlemen in the Western Canada was dependent on rail shipments of animal feed from the United States this year in the wake of last summer’s drought and resulting widespread shortage of forage.
“There is no plan B. We have no other source of food. »
Fertilizer Canada CEO Karen Proud said the work stoppage couldn’t come at a worse time.
“We are, in Canada, about four to six weeks out from the planting season. […]which means farmers might not get all the fertilizer they need,” Ms.me Proud, adding that the situation was particularly worrying this year given the war in Ukraine and its impact on global fertilizer supplies as well as wheat and other grain prices.
Canadian Chamber of Commerce President Perrin Beatty argued that the federal government must immediately introduce legislation to mandate a return to work. He warned that the consequences on the supply chain could be serious.
Management and the union have been negotiating since September. Salaries and pension funds are among the main points in dispute. The union also wants to settle the question of where employees must take their mandatory rest period. This is the fifth work stoppage at Canadian Pacific since 1993. During the last nine negotiations, the two parties have had recourse to federal conciliators eight times.
With The Canadian Press