Government-Mandated Arbitration Halts Canada Rail Strike

The federal government quickly intervened to resolve a rail strike that halted operations at Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) and Canadian National (CN) by mandating binding arbitration. The strike, initiated by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) early Thursday morning, was short-lived as the government invoked the Canada Labour Code to restart negotiations.

Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon announced that the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) would help settle the unresolved contract terms through final binding arbitration. This step, allowed under Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code, was taken after negotiations broke down.

Starting at 12:01 AM ET on Thursday, the strike led to a complete shutdown of operations at both railroads. However, with arbitration now in place, CPKC and CN are expected to resume operations during the arbitration process.