(The following article by Brent Jang was posted on the Toronto Globe and Mail website on February 22.)
TORONTO — Ottawa issued a back-to-work notice yesterday for striking Canadian National Railway Co. staff while a soap opera unfolded that could lead to a single union representing the best-paid train employees.
Hours before Ottawa issued its notice, about 340 striking CN employees reported for work as the walkout began crumbling. The strike by 2,800 conductors and yard-service employees enters its 13th day today, with CN management and the United Transportation Union far apart on wages and working conditions.
An estimated 600 CN managers have been filling in for striking employees across Canada, but rail service has been severely disrupted.
Federal Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn said he plans to introduce back-to-work legislation tomorrow, clearing the way for the strike to end some time next week.
“I still would like to see both parties find an agreement. We would prefer that kind of situation than any kind of law, but you all know that we have to act,” Mr. Blackburn said in Ottawa. “We know that the economy is actually in a bad situation. There are a lot of enterprises that have shut.”
A wide range of rail-dependent manufacturers, chemical producers, forestry firms, farming groups and miners have scaled back or halted production since the CN strike began Feb. 10.
Freight deliveries have slowed to a crawl in some cases.
BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. senior economist Robert Hogue said in a research note yesterday that the strike is well past the annoyance stage and has become disruptive.
An internal dispute rooted in differences between the Canadian union and the U.S. head office, which has not sanctioned the strike, flared up yesterday.
In a strange twist, the former Canadian UTU leader who led employees on the strike changed his mind and asked them to return voluntarily to their jobs.
Rex Beatty, who until Monday night was a chief negotiator and UTU Canada general chairman, urged members to end their walkout by tomorrow.
That prompted an exasperated UTU international spokesman Frank Wilner to question Mr. Beatty’s motives, alleging that the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference union is waiting in the wings to merge with UTU Canada.
Mr. Wilner said Mr. Beatty is preparing to deliver UTU members to the Teamsters, which represents 2,000 locomotive engineers and rail traffic controllers. The UTU and Teamsters are considered the top-tier unions at CN.
“We have a circus sideshow under way orchestrated by a faction whose intent from the start was not a new contract, but chaos in the bargaining arena allowing them to shift representation to the Teamsters,” Mr. Wilner said. “Our objective remains a negotiated settlement.”
Mr. Beatty said he has met in the past with Teamsters officials, but it’s premature to discuss details of a merger with UTU Canada.
Late Monday, UTU international’s board of directors removed Mr. Beatty and three other UTU Canada officials from their positions. The UTU international alleges that the four UTU Canada leaders were “engaging in an unauthorized strike” and also negotiating with the Teamsters for a new affiliation.
The Canada Industrial Relations Board, however, ruled that the strike is legal, siding with union lawyer Denis Ellickson.
CN chief executive officer Hunter Harrison said in a statement that the railway has a policy that allows strikers to resume working during a labour stoppage, but “CN is neither encouraging nor soliciting striking UTU members to return to work.”
The UTU members who reported for duty yesterday work in CN’s Eastern Region. “These employees are being called for assignments when necessary, and will be paid equivalent to the terms of the expired collective agreements,” Mr. Harrison said.
Mr. Beatty said Mr. Blackburn personally called him on Monday night, before the labour board’s ruling, not knowing about his ouster.
Still, based on that personal plea from Mr. Blackburn to help with mediation, Mr. Beatty said he began informing key UTU Canada officials on Tuesday night that a return to work would be advisable.