Canada’s CP Rail shuts down railroad, workers strike

The Canadian Pacific railyard is pictured in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia February 15, 2015. REUTERS/Ben Nelms/File Photograph

March 20 (Reuters) – Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) (CP.TO) halted operations and locked out employees over a labor dispute early on Sunday, with either side blaming the opposite for a halt that can probably disrupt cargo of key commodities at a time of hovering costs.

“We’re very disillusioned with this flip of occasions,” mentioned Teamsters Canada Rail Convention spokesperson Dave Fulton. The union mentioned in a statement that it had begun to strike throughout the nation within the dispute that it says impacts 3,000 engineers, conductors and yard employees.

Canada’s second-biggest railroad operator accused the union of misrepresenting the corporate’s place, saying in a statement that the Teamsters have been “properly conscious of the injury this reckless motion will trigger to the Canadian provide chain.”

Minister of Labour Seamus O’Regan Jr mentioned CP and Teamsters have been nonetheless on the desk with federal mediators.

“We’re monitoring the state of affairs carefully and anticipate the events to maintain working till they attain an settlement,” he mentioned in a tweet simply after midnight.

Canada, the most important nation by space after Russia, relies upon closely on rail to maneuver commodities and manufactured items to port. CP’s community runs throughout a lot of southern Canada and extends as far south as Kansas Metropolis in the US.

The lockout is the newest blow to Canada’s battered provide chain, which final yr weathered floods in British Columbia that washed out monitor and suspended entry to Canada’s largest port. CP has mentioned a stoppage would disrupt the motion of grain, potash and coal.

CP had notified the union on Wednesday that it could lock out workers on Sunday, barring a breakthrough in talks on a deal masking pensions, pay and advantages.

It mentioned the important thing bargaining problem is the union’s request for greater pension caps. Chief Monetary Officer Nadeem Velani instructed a New York investor convention on Tuesday that the railway was unwilling to just accept that demand.

Canada’s Nutrien mentioned this week it could want to cut back potash manufacturing at its mines within the province of Saskatchewan if the shutdown lasts longer than a number of days.

The nation’s final main railway labor disruption was an eight-day Canadian Nationwide Railway Co (CNR.TO) strike in 2019. However up to now 12 years, there have been 12 stoppages as a consequence of poor climate, blockades or labor points, in keeping with the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Affiliation. learn extra

Reporting by Ann Maria Shibu in Bengaluru and Rod Nickel in Chicago; Modifying by William Mallard and Muralikumar Anantharaman

: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.