(Bloomberg News circulated the following story by Rob Delaney on April 19.)
OTTAWA — Canadian National Railway Co.’s striking employees said Parliament’s approval of a bill to end the walkout supports an illegal union-breaking strategy by the country’s largest railroad.
The Canadian chapter of the United Transportation Union, representing 2,800 conductors and yard workers, also vowed to resist Canadian National’s plan to sign separate labor accords on a regional basis, the group said in a statement.
The bill that passed Parliament yesterday would force the union and Montreal-based Canadian National to submit best-offer proposals to a government-appointed arbitrator, which would settle on one plan. The measure still needs senate approval.
Parliament’s action is “intended to pave the way for CN Rail to attack our rights,” the union said today in a statement. Still, the union will comply, UTU spokesman Frank Wilner said in an interview, and Canadian National spokesman Mark Hallman said the railroad would do so, too.
The back-to-work bill, passed under an expedited process after Labor Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn said the stoppage is hurting the economy, aims to end a labor dispute that has disrupted operations at North America’s fifth-largest railway since Feb. 10. The union’s last contract expired Dec. 31.
“We are suggesting a regional process, but the fact of the matter is that we have pending legislation, which is what we’ll have to be governed by,” Hallman said in a telephone interview. The railroad wants separate accords with union members in eastern Canada, western Canada, British Columbia and Quebec, Hallman said.
Locked Out
The railroad last week locked out all UTU members in the eight locations where the employees began picketing, including Vancouver and Oakville, Ontario.
Once the legislation is approved, “the UTU will instruct its members to return to work and we would expect CN to comply by ending the lockout,” Wilner said. “We will then prepare our position for the arbitrator,” the spokesman said, declining to give details of the union’s proposal.
Shares of Canadian National rose C$1.20 cents, or 2.2 percent, to C$56.40 at 3:50 p.m. in trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange. They have gained 13 percent this year.