The former head of Canada’s largest railway says the rail industry’s flawed collective bargaining system is partly to blame for Thursday’s national railway stoppage, which had far-reaching impacts across the entire Canadian economy.
“The system, in some ways, is broken … these are not your usual industrial labour disputes, this is not a mine going on strike or a chemical plant or a paper mill,” JJ Ruest, former CEO of Canadian National Railway Co. (CN), told BNN Bloomberg in a Friday interview.
“Both the union and the railroads have an oversized impact on the Canadian economy that other labour disputes don’t have, so really the question remains as to whether or not rail service is essential.”
Ruest said that in recent years when there have been large-scale rail or port labour disputes that have led to stoppages, they have been followed by nationwide calls to get employees back to work quickly.
But Ruest said nothing has been done proactively to stop disputes from turning into strikes or lockouts.
“Before the disruption starts, the agencies in Ottawa say that these services are not essential and the right to strike should be allowed to them as it would be allowed to a pulp mill, a potash mine or a chemical plant,” he said.
“Is it an essential service or not? It seems to be kind of that after the fact it’s recognized as essential services to the economy.”
Operations were suspended at both CN and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. (CPKC) on Thursday after the railways were unable to reach a new collective bargaining agreement with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, which represents more than 9,000 workers.
After facing mounting pressure from business groups and others to intervene, Canada’s Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon asked the Industrial Relations Board late Thursday to impose binding arbitration on the union and the two rail giants, signalling an end to the brief stoppage.
But the Teamsters union said Friday that it intends to fight the decision, issuing a 72-hour strike notice to CN, even as workers at the railway returned to work Friday morning. Teamsters representing CPKC, meanwhile, are challenging the constitutionality of MacKinnon’s directive.
Ruest said that if arbitration goes ahead, the existing agreement between the union and railways would likely be extended, with only salary terms and the length of the agreement being arbitrated.
“You’d have an extension of the existing contract, you’d arbitrate salary, and hopefully for the sake of the economy, you make sure it’s a three-year agreement,” he said.
“In other words, a number of the issues will remain unresolved until the contract expires again but at least in the meantime you have peace.”
With files from The Canadian Press
