CN workers threaten strike, vow to fight Canada move to end rail shutdown

Montreal/Ottawa | Reuters—The union representing workers at Canadian National Railway said on Friday they would strike next week, in a fresh threat to the economy after vowing to challenge a government decision to end an unprecedented rail stoppage.

The Teamsters union filed notice that conductors, locomotive engineers and other workers at Montreal-based CN would strike on Monday, just days after returning to work on Friday.

A Canadian government official had no immediate comment.

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Workers at the Canadian National (CN) railway will be headed back to work today, their union said, but workers at Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) will remain off the job “pending an order from the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB).”

A CN spokesperson said trains were starting to run and the company’s plan to resume operations was under way.

“We are focused on getting back to work,” said Jonathan Abecassis, CN’s spokesperson. “The Teamsters are focused on getting back to the picket line.”

The looming strike is the latest twist in a labor dispute at Canada’s top two railroads, which locked out more than 9,000 unionized workers on Thursday, triggering a simultaneous rail stoppage that business groups said could inflict hundreds of millions of dollars in economic damage.

A lockout at rival Canadian Pacific Kansas City has yet to be officially lifted after the Canadian government moved on Thursday to end the rail stoppage, which for the first time involved both railways simultaneously.

The dispute led Canada’s Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to ask the Canada Industrial Relations Board to issue a back-to-work order. Union and railroad officials met with the CIRB, an independent body, on Friday morning, the Teamsters said on social media site X.

Teamsters spokesperson Chris Monette said by phone earlier in the day that the union would challenge the constitutionality of the minister’s referral, without giving details.

Monette said CN workers would return to work on Friday, although the union had not received any back-to-work protocol from the railway.

“The return to work will be chaotic this morning,” he said.

Monette said members from CPKC would not be back at work as the railway had not yet ended its lockout.

CPKC said late on Thursday that it was preparing to restart operations in Canada and that further details on timing would be provided once it received the CIRB’s order.