A decision obliging more than 9,000 Canadian rail workers to stay on the job is a win for the railways and could impact bargaining in other federally regulated sectors like aviation, the head of a Canadian rail workers’ union told Reuters.
Paul Boucher, president of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, also said the union would work with other labour groups as it mounts a legal challenge to a Saturday decision that halted work stoppages at the country’s two largest railways and imposed arbitration.
While the Teamsters will obey the order to return to work, the union has warned it could lead to the imposition of future contracts, eroding workers’ bargaining power.
The decision comes as Air Canada pilots press for a new contract and can commence job action as early as mid-September if there is no agreement with the country’s largest carrier. Air Canada said on Sunday its intent is to reach a negotiated settlement with the pilots over the coming weeks.
“Any federally regulated company, it’s a win for them at this point,” Boucher told Reuters in his first interview since the Thursday lockout. “This is disastrous for labour, for workers.”
The Canada Industrial Relations Board made the decision after federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon asked it on Thursday to end an impasse in separate talks between the Teamsters, Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC).
The dispute, which triggered a first-ever lockout of Teamsters workers on Thursday at both freight rail carriers, led to unprecedented disruptions that threatened to hammer Canada’s export-driven economy, leading agricultural businesses to plead for relief.
Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon says the government was ‘confronted with exceptional circumstances’ during a contract dispute between Canada’s two major railways and unionized workers. MacKinnon says the Canada Industrial Relations Board decision to order workers back on the job and impose binding arbitration was done with their best interests in mind.
Tim Perry, president of the Air Line Pilots Association Canada, which represents Air Canada pilots, said the union is concerned.
“The new minister of labour does not trust the Canadian laws governing collective bargaining, nor does the government he represents respect the constitutional…
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