Canadian government forces rail lockout to end

Canadian Labor Minister Steve MacKinnon took action Thursday to end the shutdown of the nation’s two major freight railroads less than one day after it started, referring the labor dispute that had closed the railroads to binding arbitration.

Canadian Labor Minister Steve MacKinnon took action Thursday to end the shutdown of the nation’s two major freight railroads less than one day after it started, referring the labor dispute that had closed the railroads to binding arbitration. “I’ve directed the Canada Industrial Relations Board to assist the parties in settling the outstanding terms of their collective agreements by imposing final binding arbitration,” MacKinnon said in press conference Thursday. The government also ordered a resumption of activities and extending the term of the current collective agreements until new agreements have been signed. The move is a victory for Canadian National and Candian Pacific Kansas City Southern, the two major railroads which had been seeking government intervention. Management of the two railroads had been requesting government intervention. They said they had been forced to shut down their networks, despite the disruption it would cause, because there was no way to reach a deal with the Teamsters union that represents 9,000 of their workers. MacKinnon said he assessed both parties were at a “fundamental impasse.” “There is no question that we are at an impasse. The issues remain, the parties remain very, very far apart on these issues… it’s not my job to pick sides here,” MacKinnon said. But with two national railways with suspended operations, “it is the government’s duty and responsibility to ensure industrial peace in this critically vital sector,” he said at the press conference.