Canada’s CP Rail Shutdown Sees 3000 Workers off the Job

Canada’s CP Rail has stopped operations and has a labor strike due to the labor dispute on Sunday. Each side blamed the other for a halt that would affect the shipment of essential commodities at a time of soaring prices.

A Canadian Pacific spokesperson said that the company was at the negotiating table with federal mediators Saturday in Calgary and sent a new contract offer to the union that evening. They also didn’t respond to anything.  Waldron said they were negotiating the table when the Teamsters Canada’s Rail Conference union put out a false and unpredictable statement that CP had locked out their employees.

The company also added that TCRC began revoking employees before the midnight deadline and said this is a strike and not a lockout. Waldron said the company wanted to keep talking then, still wants to keep talking, and wants an immediate end to the dispute. He said that the Canadian Pacific supports the government taking action.TCRC, which represents some 3,000 engineers, conductors, yard workers, and other train employees, issued a release just before midnight saying a lockout was initiated by management at the railway.

The statement also added that as Canadians grapple with a pandemic, surging commodity prices, and the war in Ukraine, the rail carrier is expanding an excessive layer of insecurity, especially for those who depend on the rail network. The union added a subsequent release that TCRC members were also on strike throughout the country, with picketing underway at various Canadian Pacific locations.