Teamsters vow to appeal ruling ordering rail employees back to work

The federal labour board ruled Saturday that freight trains must start rolling again first thing Monday morning, and the Teamsters Union says it will comply with the ruling.

But the union, which represents CPKC and CN Rail workers, says it also plans to appeal the ruling in federal court.

Christopher Monette, director of public affairs at Teamsters Canada, says the ruling sends a message to corporate Canada that they don’t need to negotiate with labour unions.

“All they have to do is avoid bargaining, shut down their operations, inflict a bit of economic harm, and the federal government will swoop in to save them from having to face a union, Monette said.

“All they have to do from here on out is refuse to bargain with a union, all they have to do is shut down their operations, just for a few hours. A labour minister can swoop in and unilaterally cancel job action, order people back to work, thereby significantly weakening Canadian workers bargaining power, bargaining power with these large, multi-billion-dollar corporations.”

He says this is going to affect all unions, not just railroaders.

“It’s going to affect port workers. It’s going to affect airline workers. It’s going to affect workers across the supply chain.”

A work stoppage that began early Thursday morning at Canada’s two major railways is slated to end first thing Monday after the federal labour board ordered the companies and their workers to resume operations.

The full financial impact of the shutdown remains unclear, even as Moody’s warned it could cost the Canadian economy $341 million per day.

The credit rating agency said agriculture, forestry, and manufacturing were among the hardest-hit sector.

With files from The Canadian Press.