Rail shutdown possible in two weeks, as lockout warnings follow labour board ruling | Canada News Media
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Rail shutdown possible in two weeks, as lockout warnings follow labour board ruling

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As the negotiating clock ticks down, the country’s two main railways are set for a nationwide strike or lockout in less than two weeks after a ruling that their work does not amount to an essential service.

Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. warned Friday that lockouts on Aug. 22 are imminent unless new contracts with their employees can be secured.

The warnings came hours after the Canada Industrial Relations Board ruled that a work stoppage would pose no “serious danger” to public health or safety, opening the gate to a full-fledged strike or lockout. If either occurs, employees at CN or CPKC would not be compelled to continue hauling goods, including key commodities such as chlorine for water and propane for care centres.

Some 9,300 conductors, engineers and yard workers at CN and CPKC have been bargaining on and off over a pair of new collective agreements for months.

The labour tribunal ordered a 13-day cooling-off period as part of the dual decisions Friday. If new deals cannot be reached in that window, countrywide lockouts or strikes by employees — represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) — could kick off as early as Aug. 22.

Late Friday afternoon, Canadian Pacific said it will lock out 3,300 employees one minute after midnight on Aug. 22 unless a deal is secured.

“If no resolution is reached during bargaining through the extended cooling-off period, and the TCRC continues to refuse binding interest arbitration, CPKC will have no choice but to take this action,” the company said in a release, citing supply chain stability.

CN called on the federal government to impose binding arbitration, saying it has “lost faith” in the negotiating process. A phased shutdown of its network would also culminate in an Aug. 22 lockout of 6,000 workers, it said.

The union said its focus remains good-faith bargaining. “Whether or not this is possible is entirely up to CN and CPKC,” said spokesman Christopher Monette.

Shippers and producers say the potential stoppage at CN or CPKC — or both simultaneously — would halt freight traffic, clog ports and disrupt industries.

In May, then-labour minister Seamus O’Regan asked the industrial relations board to review whether a work stoppage would jeopardize Canadians’ health and safety after union members voted overwhelming to approve a strike mandate. Friday’s ruling effectively “places the parties back in the position they were in” before the ministerial referral, the board wrote.

“There is no doubt that a work stoppage at CN would result in inconvenience, economic hardship and, possibly, as some groups and organizations have suggested, harm to Canada’s global reputation as a reliable trading partner,” the tribunal said in a unanimous decision.

However, the question of what constitutes an essential service under the Canada Labour Code is “very narrow,” it continued.

“The board is satisfied that, at this time, a strike or lockout at CN would not pose an immediate and serious danger to the safety or health of the public.”

The tribunal came to the same conclusion in a separate ruling concerning Canadian Pacific.

Sticking points at the bargaining table boil down to crew scheduling, fatigue management and safety, the Teamsters said. The union has rejected binding arbitration with both companies.

Each side says the other has made excessive demands that led to a weeks-long bargaining impasse.

Canadian railways haul about $380 billion worth of goods and more than half of the country’s total exports each year, according to the Railway Association of Canada.

Anxiety over a strike by thousands of employees has already cost the two railways some business after some customers started to reroute cargo following the union’s strike mandate authorization on May 1.

Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon, who replaced O’Regan after the latter resigned from cabinet three weeks ago, said the two sides need to hash out a deal themselves rather than rely on government intervention, such as back-to-work legislation.

“I call upon the parties to stay at the bargaining table and continue holding productive and substantive discussions that meet the needs of this moment. A negotiated agreement is the best way forward,” he said in a statement Friday.

The stance differed from that adopted by industry — the players most frustrated by Friday’s ruling — in a message to the prime minister.

“We are writing to urge you to immediately intervene and do everything necessary to avert a disruption,” stated the joint letter from 70-plus industry groups and 40 chambers of commerce.

The organizations warned that a prolonged stoppage would strangle the goods pipeline, drive up prices and aggravate affordability problems for businesses and individuals, on top of the risk of furloughs at companies forced to suspend operations.

Commuters could feel the effects of a work stoppage as well.

Should one occur involving the 80 CPKC rail traffic controllers negotiating for a contract — distinct from CPKC’s main bargaining group — passenger trains that run on Canadian Pacific-owned tracks in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal could shut down.

Factories would also face back-ups right away, said Dennis Darby, CEO of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters.

“You pay penalties because you’re delayed delivery,” he said in an interview.

“Canadians don’t realize how integrated our manufacturing sector is and how small the inventories are. That’s why stuff is moving all the time.”

Bob Masterson, CEO of Chemistry Industry Association of Canada, called the tribunal decision “disappointing.”

“There’s no plan B,” said Masterson, whose organization represents producers of plastics and chemicals.

About 80 per cent of the sector’s $100 billion in annual shipments relies on rail transport, much of it going to U.S. automakers but plenty bound for Canadian municipalities that need chlorine to disinfect drinking water, he said.

“The government has asked us, ‘What about trucks?’ No. 1, what trucks? We already have a driver shortage,” he said in an interview.

One railcar amounts to three big rigs’ worth of commodities, he said. “And every day we move 530 railcars. So somehow, at short notice, we’re going to find 1,500 to 2,000 more trucks to carry our product, as well as everybody else trying to? That’s just not possible at all.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 9, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:CNR, TSX:CP)

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Canada’s Denis Shapovalov wins Belgrade Open for his second ATP Tour title

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BELGRADE, Serbia – Canada’s Denis Shapovalov is back in the winner’s circle.

The 25-year-old Shapovalov beat Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic 6-4, 6-4 in the Belgrade Open final on Saturday.

It’s Shapovalov’s second ATP Tour title after winning the Stockholm Open in 2019. He is the first Canadian to win an ATP Tour-level title this season.

His last appearance in a tournament final was in Vienna in 2022.

Shapovalov missed the second half of last season due to injury and spent most of this year regaining his best level of play.

He came through qualifying in Belgrade and dropped just one set on his way to winning the trophy.

Shapovalov’s best results this season were at ATP 500 events in Washington and Basel, where he reached the quarterfinals.

Medjedovic was playing in his first-ever ATP Tour final.

The 21-year-old, who won the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF title last year, ends 2024 holding a 9-8 tour-level record on the season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Talks to resume in B.C. port dispute in bid to end multi-day lockout

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VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.

The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.

The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.

The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.

The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.

MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.

In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.

“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.

“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”

In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.

“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.

The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.

“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”

The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.

The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.

A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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The Royal Canadian Legion turns to Amazon for annual poppy campaign boost

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The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.

Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.

Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.

Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.

“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.

“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”

Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.

“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.

Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.

“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”

But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.

Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.

“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.

Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.

The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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