Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) union members have set up multiple picket lines in Sarnia after they were locked out by Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CKPC) at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday.
Negotiations between the union and Canada's two major rail companies continued. However, the federal government intervened in the dispute.
Late Thursday afternoon, Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon announced that the federal government has ordered binding arbitration. He also said terms of the current collective agreements will be extended until new ones can be agreed upon and CN and CPKC railway operations will resume.
CN said as of 6 p.m., the lock out ended.
"As CN awaits the formal order from the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB), the Company is making this decision to expedite the recovery of the economy," read a media release. "While CN is satisfied that this labour conflict has ended and that it can get back to its role of powering the economy, the Company is disappointed that a negotiated deal could not be achieved at the bargaining table despite its best efforts."
CKPC also said it was preparing to restart railway operations in Canada. The company said further details about timing would be released after it received CIRB's order.
However, the union said the minister's referral and CIRB's response would be reviewed with legal counsel.
"Meanwhile, picket lines remain in place," read Teamsters' statement.
Earlier in the day, about 20 picketers were in the area of Indian Road and Plank Road at about 11 a.m., where some passing vehicles honked in support of their demonstration.
Workers were also stationed in the area of Modeland Road and Confederation Street, and McGregor Side Road.
Sarnia News Today was told that nearly 250 workers had been impacted locally. They were spread out at the three sites, on three different rotating shifts.
Teamsters Canada Director of Public Affairs Christopher Monette accused CN and CKPC of asking for concessions.
"Concessions around crew scheduling, around fatigue management, around workers' safety, and in the case of CN, the company wants to put in place a forced relocation location scheme which would see workers ordered to move thousands of kilometres away to fill labour shortages in parts of the country," Monette said.
Monette also said until the listed concessions are taken off the table by the companies, there won't be a breakthrough in negotiations.
"This is an employer-driven work stoppage where our members are locked out because of company demands for concessions and not union proposals," said Monette.
In a media release issued by CN on Thursday morning, the company said it "proposed serious offers, with better pay, improved rest and more predictable schedules" over the past nine months. Meanwhile, CKPC claimed Teamsters Canada's leadership has made "unrealistic demands" that would affect the railway's ability to serve customers and provide cost-competitive service.