North American market logistics and transportation are disrupted by another rail strike in Canada!

On August 24th local time, CN Rail Canada received an official notice from the Canadian Railway Workers Union (TCRC) announcing that a strike would begin in 72 hours. This strike notice came shortly after CN Rail had just announced the end of a work stoppage and in response to the federal government's implementation of a binding arbitration decision.

The work stoppages on the Canadian rail system began on August 22 when CN Rail and CPKC, the two major railroads, notified their unions of a work stoppage after labor negotiations failed to reach an agreement by the deadline. 3,500 employees at CPKC then began strike action. Faced with the tremendous economic pressures of a work stoppage, Canada's Minister of Labor quickly intervened and instructed the Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to consider initiating a binding arbitration process.

At the direction of the Minister of Labor, CN Rail quickly withdrew its lockout notice and began gradually resuming operations on Friday morning. The situation at CPKC, however, is more complicated, as the shutdown at CPKC was extended as the rail union expressed its displeasure with the Minister of Labor's intervention and prepared to contest the constitutionality of the Minister's actions. Meetings between labor and management and the CIRB began Friday morning and continued into the afternoon, but as of yet no final ruling has been reached.

If the CIRB is able to issue a binding arbitration decision within Friday, railroad workers at both CN and CPKC will be required to continue or return to work. If the unions are dissatisfied with the outcome of the ruling, they have the right to appeal to the courts, but rail service will have to maintain normal operations during the appeal.