Business

CN, CPKC resume railway service Monday after work stoppage ends

Traffic at Canada's two largest railways is slated to resume Monday as a rail work stoppage comes to an end following a Saturday decision from the federal labour board.

May take several weeks for CPKC railway network to fully recover

Three railway workers walking between two tracks with stationary railway cars on them, with city of Toronto in the distance.
Rail cars are pictured at the CPKC Toronto Yard, in Scarborough, Ont., on Aug. 20. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)

Traffic at Canada's two largest railways is slated to resume Monday as a rail work stoppage comes to an end following a Saturday decision from the federal labour board.

Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Kansas City shut down railways last Thursday, locking out workers and disrupting freight traffic countrywide and commuter lines in the Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver areas.

The lockouts affected more than 9,000 railway workers amid an ongoing contract dispute between the two companies and the Teamsters union.

The work stoppage came to an end at 12:01 a.m. ET on Monday based on a decision issued on Saturday by the Canada Industrial Relations Board ordering both companies and their workers to resume operations ahead of binding arbitration.

The president of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference issued a statement Saturday protesting the CIRB's decision and vowed to appeal the ruling in court.

That same day, Calgary-based CPKC said it anticipates several weeks for the railway network to recover, and more time after that for supply chains to stabilize.

CPKC locomotives on tracks at a rail yard in North Vancouver.
A Canadian National Railway locomotive is pictured at the CN Rail Lynn Creek yard in North Vancouver, B.C., on Aug. 22, after CN Rail and CPKC locked out workers following unsuccessful negotiation attempts with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference union. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

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