Double railway strike could devastate small business: CFIB

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Canada’s largest advocate for independent businesses is warning that impending work stoppages at Canada’s two major freight railways would “paralyze” the country’s economy.

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As the clock ticks down on an impending — and unprecedented — lockout of Teamsters members at CN and an impending strike at CPKC (Canadian Pacific Kansas City) railways, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is calling on the railways and the union to reach a deal before it’s too late. 

“Any disruptions to railway operations could be devastating for small businesses, their employees and communities,” said Jasmin Guenette, the CFIB’s vice-president of national affairs.

“Many small businesses rely on rail services to send and receive goods, products and essential materials. The longer the work stoppage goes on, the costlier it becomes for small firms who may lose sales and contracts if goods are not delivered or received on time.”

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With the two railways set to sideline their over 9,000 running trades employees — engineers, conductors and yard personnel — at one minute after midnight on Thursday, the two companies have already started halting shipments in preparation of a Canada-wide network shutdown, including CN halting container imports from the United States — as well as curtailing shipments of perishable or refrigerated cargo.

Teamsters officials representing CPKC workers issued their 72-hour strike notice on Sunday, shortly before CN promised to lock-out their Teamsters workers on Thursday.

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“Unless there is an immediate and definite resolution to the labour conflict, CN will have no choice but to continue the phased and progressive shutdown of its network which would culminate in a lockout,” the railway said in a press release over the weekend. 

Hopes that Ottawa would stop the lockout before it began were dashed last week, when Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon dismissed calls to impose binding arbitration.

Similar to what was seen in 2020, when Canada-wide railway blockades by First Nations activists prompted nationwide shutdowns, supplies of chlorine for municipal water treatment have also been halted.

This could spell issues for drinking water across the country and many parts of the United States, as commercial-quantities of the dangerous element is typically only transported by rail car.

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume

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