Bewildered commuters were turned away from shuttered rail lines on Thursday as an unprecedented railway lockout upset travel plans for more than 30,000 daily riders in some of Canada’s largest cities.
Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. locked out its workers after they failed to reach a deal on a new contract before a midnight deadline, the first time there has been a simultaneous shutdown on Canada’s two largest railways.
The Railway Association of Canada says the shutdown halts about $1 billion in goods traffic each day, some of which was preemptively stopped to avoid having cargo stranded in the event of a stoppage.
CN said they formally locked out workers after the union did not respond to another offer by CN in a final attempt to avoid a labour disruption.
“Without an agreement or binding arbitration, CN had no choice but to finalize a safe and orderly shutdown and proceed with a lockout,” read their statement.
Bargaining between workers and the country’s two largest railways was set to resume at 10:30 a.m. ET Thursday.
On Wednesday, business groups pleaded for Ottawa to step in and prevent the work stoppage that would upend supply chains — while the prime minister stressed a deal at the table is the best outcome.
Under the Canada Labour Code, the federal labour minister could have referred the dispute to the Canada Industrial Relations Board for binding arbitration to prohibit a strike or lockout in the interim, said the business groups.
Alternatively, they had suggested the government recall Parliament and pass back-to-work legislation — a step taken by a previous Conservative government during a rail strike in 2012, and a move it threatened to make in 2015.
The leader of the federal NDP party says he will not support back-to-work legislation or any interference in the bargaining process.
“CN and CPKC should still be bargaining with Teamsters Canada,” Jagmeet Singh said in a statement.
He added that he thinks corporate giants like CN and CPKC expect the Liberals to “swoop in to help the corporation and hurt the workers with binding arbitration or back-to-work legislation.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government is taking the work stoppages “seriously.”
“We are not taking this lightly, obviously, because Canadians across the country are worried about this,” he said as he left a local manufacturer in Sherbrooke, Que.
Trudeau promised his government would have more to say shortly on what it will do to ensure quick solution to the conflict.
●Commuter trains impacted by strike
The lockout delivers a blow to commuter railways in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver that run on CPKC-owned lines. The impact is limited to those lines because dispatchers at CN, which hosts a greater number of passenger trains, are not part of the bargaining process and would not take part in a work stoppage.
Southern Ontario’s GO Transit halted rail service at Hamilton GO Centre and along its Milton line, sidelining a combined 8,100 customers.
Some commuters arrived Thursday morning at GO Transit stations along the line, which cuts through Mississauga to Toronto’s Union Station, only to learn service had been suspended.
“This is completely unacceptable, and we should have been informed earlier, said Om Sangekar, speaking outside the Cooksville station.
“I’ll definitely be late for work.”
GO Transit customer care workers stopped people on their way into the parking lot to tell them about the shutdown and alternative travel options. Shuttles were running every 30 minutes to take those at the Cooksville station to Port Credit’s GO hub, where they could catch a ride on the Lakeshore line.
Shraddha Mhatre, a commuter who arrived at the Cooksville station unaware of the stoppage, decided to work from home.
“I have some meetings scheduled in the mornings so I can’t take a chance to have any further delays,” she said.
In a statement posted to social media, Ontario Premier Doug Ford appealed to both the railways and union leadership to get back to the bargaining table, saying the shutdown was already costing workers, transit users and businesses.
‘We cannot afford to let things get worse,” he said.
In the Montreal area, Exo Transit says its Candiac, Saint-Jérôme and Vaudreuil/Hudson lines, which serve around 21,000 daily riders in the Montreal area, are shut down.
In notices on its website, Exo directed customers to regular service alternatives. If the railway shutdown drags on, it says some shuttle bus service will be available starting Monday.
“The proposed bus shuttles will not be able to compensate for all the interrupted service on the three affected train lines, and we recommend that users plan alternative routes via existing regular services,” the notice read.
In the Vancouver area, TransLink said it’s offering supplemental bus service for its suspended West Coast Express service. The transit service said more than 3,000 passengers take the line each day.
“Please be advised that in the event of a work stoppage at Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), potentially taking effect on August 22, VIA Rail would, unfortunately, have to suspend trains 185 and 186 on its Sudbury – White-River service without alternative transportation, until the issue is resolved,” VIA Rail said in a statement.
“Impacted customers are being contacted directly to inform them of the situation. They can also autonomously modify their reservation or opt for a full refund at no cost online.”
Retailers are worried about the ripple effects as well.
“Product is not being loaded onto various forms of transportation because of the expectation that it could just get backlogged and stuck,” said Michelle Wasylyshen, a spokeswoman at the Retail Council of Canada.
“We’re looking at holiday shopping products, Halloween products, even food items.”
source & photo: CityNews
