Threat Of Canadian Rail Strike Continues

The threat of an upcoming rail strike in Canada continues to boil, as a three day walk out on the West Coast is avoided this week after being ruled unlawful.

This week’s planned strike action in British Columbia is an independent dispute from the ongoing national threat and was halted when the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) ruled it unlawful.

The three-day walk out was planned to commence from 4.30pm on 8th July. However, at the eleventh hour, the CIRB instructed the union to rescind the strike notice, saying that the union had failed to bargain in good faith. According to Canadian labour law, a strike cannot start legally until the CIRB has ruled it lawful. 

However, the CIRB are still yet to rule on the national dispute between the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference union (TCRC), the Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) union and the Canadian National Railway.

9,000 workers from the TCRC and CPKC unions voted in favour of strike action on 1st May, before the Canadian government referred the matter to the CIRB on 10th May.

The CIRB have taken considerable time to rule on this dispute, perhaps due to the significant disruption it will cause logistics in and out of Canada and also some Northern USA states. However, should the CIRB rule in favour of the unions, a rail strike will almost certainly follow throughout Canada at 72 hours’ notice.