Back-to-work legislation tabled to end Canadian rail strike

CANADA's Labour Minister Rona Ambrose was to put back-to-work legislation before the Parliament to end to a two-day-old national strike by trains drivers against the Canadian National Railway.

The last strike at CN, Canada's largest railroad was in February 2007. It ended after the federal government passed back-to-work legislation, citing the importance of the rail service to the economy, reported Reuters.

The state-owned Canadian Wheat Board, the only legal buyer and seller of Canadian grain, warned that the strike could cripple country's grain transport.

Commodity traders at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange also warned that the strike could slow lumber deliveries, most of which are most often containerised, into the US and drive up prices.

The minister's the proposed legislation reportedly includes requirements that the issues separating CN's management and the union be put to binding arbitration, according to news reports out of Ottawa.

The Teamsters union said CN refused to return to bargaining table. The union said it sent the railroad an offer through federal mediators to submit the wage part of their dispute to arbitration "upon successful resolution of the other outstanding issues."

After talks broke down on November 20, the railway unilaterally provided a 1.5 per cent wage increase on the 1,700 drivers, and required them to adopt a higher monthly mileage limit to match their work rules with those of conductors in the locomotive cabs and the union responded with a strike notice.
 

Source: SchedNet