(Halifax) Union members from Canada’s two major railways will protest Tuesday outside a Halifax hotel where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will meet with Liberal donors on the sidelines of his cabinet retreat, decrying “injustice.”
“Our plan is to gather on Tuesday in front of the Westin. We are calling on all unions, all workers to mobilize,” Teamsters Canada Rail Conference President Paul Boucher said Sunday evening in an interview with The Canadian Press.
The railway workers are furious that the government ended the labour dispute and deprived them of their rights to free collective bargaining by ordering the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to begin the arbitration process, which it quickly imposed on the parties.
Simultaneous disputes at the Canadian National Railway Company (CN) and the Canadian Pacific Railway Kansas City (CPKC) have paralyzed freight shipments and hampered travel across the country.
The minister believed that the parties were at an impasse in contract negotiations and that Canadian businesses and trade relations were at stake.
But Mr. Boucher counters that the Canada Labour Code gives the union the right to freely negotiate collective agreements and to exert economic pressure on businesses. “This is a fundamental right for which we will fight,” he sent.
“The Liberal government has been pretending for a while that it is pro-worker, but it has shown Canadians that it is not,” he sent.
On Facebook, its communications director, Marc-André Gauthier, is even harsher, stating that Canada is “the country of oligopolies” and that the Liberal Party of Canada is “their political arm.”
Tuesday night’s reception is being hosted by the Laurier Club, an organization of Liberal activists who donate $1,725 a year to fund the Liberal Party of Canada.
The event is being billed as a “unique event” where participants will be able to discuss alongside Mr. Trudeau the “next steps in our Liberal government’s work to build a better, stronger and more resilient Canada.”
At a press briefing on Sunday evening, Minister MacKinnon maintained that Ottawa had a responsibility to “prevent economic carnage.”
Mr. MacKinnon is far from being on the same wavelength as the Teamsters. According to him, “it is difficult to remember a decision that was made more in the interest of Canadian workers” since a shutdown of the rail sector would have major impacts on the country’s economy and its workers.
“When you think about the closures and the potash mines, when you think about the auto plants that are running out of inventory, when you think about the forestry and aluminum operations across the country that don’t have the storage space, that have to ship this product,” he said.
While the full financial impact of the shutdown remains uncertain, Moody’s has warned it could cost the Canadian economy $341 million per day. The rating agency said agriculture, forestry and manufacturing were among the hardest-hit sectors.