(Halifax) Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon said he was “relieved” Sunday to have avoided “economic carnage” with the resumption of rail transportation. He defended his decision to impose binding arbitration in the labour dispute between Canada’s two largest rail companies and the Teamsters union.
“It would have been an act of economic self-sabotage, to use the words of the Deputy Prime Minister, and obviously we are very relieved to have been able to avoid it,” he said upon arriving at the Halifax Convention Centre, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet retreat is taking place.
Canadian National Railway Company (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) locked out some 9,300 locomotive engineers, mechanics and yard workers on Thursday after failing to reach an agreement to renew their collective agreements.
The move brought freight rail transport across the country to a standstill for the first time.
The dispute is something of a baptism of fire for the new Labour Minister, who was appointed on 19 July after the departure of his predecessor Seamus O’Regan. He reacted quickly by imposing binding arbitration the same day.
“We had reached a so-called fundamental impasse and, therefore, it was the responsibility of the Government of Canada to act to prevent economic carnage while we are experiencing an economic recovery and growth opportunities are very, very present throughout the country,” he justified.
The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) has indicated its intention to challenge in Federal Court the decision of the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) that ordered a return to work at midnight and one minute Monday until the end of an arbitrator’s mandate. The arbitrator must rule on new collective agreements. In the meantime, the union will comply with this directive.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) has indicated its intention to challenge the decision of the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) in Federal Court.
CFTC President Paul Boucher said MacKinnon set a “dangerous precedent” by imposing binding arbitration. In a message to union members, he said he was heading to Halifax to protest the labour minister’s decision on Monday ahead of a cabinet retreat.
“Workers in Canada have the right, under the Code, [canadien du travail] and the Charter [canadienne des droits et libertés]to freely negotiate their collective agreements, he recalled in an interview with The Canadian Press. The rights that are mentioned in the code allow us to exert economic pressure on companies. It is a fundamental right for which we are going to fight.
Mr. MacKinnon maintains that he acted “in the public interest and in the interest of workers.” “How? When you think about the chlorine stocks for municipalities, the propane for hospitals, the people who take public transit in our three largest cities and who rely on the work of railway workers,” he said.
It was also in the national interest when you consider the economic losses of a billion dollars a day in virtually every sector of the economy affected.
Steven MacKinnon, Minister of Labour
PHOTO PETER POWER, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Minister Steven MacKinnon has indicated that he does not intend to legislate to make rail transport an essential service in order to avoid a further paralysis of freight transport.
He also discussed the domino effect that this rail paralysis could have had on the rest of the economy: potash mines shut down, parts inventories in auto plants emptied, possible layoffs in the forestry and aluminum industries and because plants would eventually run out of space while continuing production. And the brake on a significant portion of Canadian exports. A third of goods transported by train are shipped to the United States, he recalled.
The minister also indicated that he did not intend to legislate to make rail transport an essential service, as demanded by the Quebec Employers’ Council.
“We believe in collective bargaining,” he replied. He added that in the vast majority of cases, they result in an employment contract.
“I think the government already has the tools to avoid conflicts and to ensure that workers can make gains, in terms of health and safety at work and in terms of money,” he continued.
Mr. Boucher of the Teamsters noted that the CCRI had ruled “on several occasions” that “rail transport is not an essential service.”
The government has found itself exceptionally faced with a double work stoppage in this sector. Previously, there was a one-year gap for collective agreement negotiations between CN and CPKC. With the entry into force of new federal rules regarding locomotive driver fatigue in 2022, CN had requested, and obtained, a one-year extension of its employment contract.
With Joël-Denis Bellavance, Julien Arsenault and The Canadian Press