As Canadian Members of Parliament debated proposed government legislation on Monday (February 16) to stop a rail strike that started on the weekend, Labour Minister Kellie Leitch announced the strike was over and Canadian Pacific Railway and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, the union representing thousands of engineers, conductors and others, would go into arbitration.
Talks over safety issues had fallen apart before the strike deadline Saturday night at midnight, as the govenment made it known it would legislate the workers back to work because of the impact a strike would have on the economy.
The union says Canadian Pacific Railway has refused to implement a dependable scheduling system that would allow engineers to rest before starting a work shift. And also accuses the freight rail company of ignoring rights the engineers already have to stop working after 10 hours of work.
RCI’s Wojtek Gwiazda has a report.
ListenMore information:
RCI – As strike deadline looms, railway freight workers determined to fix scheduling, fatigue problems – here
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.