Rail strike: Trudeau defends Ottawa’s ‘reluctant’ decision to call for binding arbitration

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the decision to request binding arbitration to resolve the four-day rail strike was the right one – even though it was made “reluctantly.”

“To be clear, this is not the outcome we wanted to see,” Trudeau said from Winnipeg on Wednesday.

The prime minister defended the government’s decision that forced an end to a work stoppage at the country’s two major railways – Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City.

Trudeau addressed the recent railway labour disputes during a 15-minute speech to a meeting of the International Union of Operating Engineers.

“CN and CPKC took the deeply unhelpful decision last Thursday to lock out employees after talks reached an impasse,” the Liberal leader said.

READ: Canadian National Railway has ended lockout, recovery plan underway

As a result, freight traffic was disrupted countrywide. The work stoppage threatened the economy and supplies of important goods.

“That came with a cost of over a billion dollars of shipments per day, while, as you all know, putting at risk thousands of jobs across the country, including union jobs,” said Trudeau.

The work stoppage, involving 9,000 workers, didn’t last long, ending at 12:01 a.m. on Monday based on a decision issued Saturday by the Canadian Industrial Relations Board. It ordered both rail companies and their workers to resume operations ahead of binding arbitration.

Trudeau discussed his government’s move on labour issues, including a ban on replacement workers during labour disputes. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, however, has accused the government of taking bargaining rights from workers.

“We had to make a decision and of course a difficult decision,” said federal Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon, who was also present.

MacKinnon says the federal government will look at all the immediate and long-term solutions to address the worker safety issues raised by the Teamsters union and to make the railway system work better.

“Long-term solutions that strengthen the railway sector and its labour relations for years to come and that is my commitment to the labour movement of this country and my commitment to all of you here today,” MacKinnon said. “But we will find those solutions only one way, by working together.”

Trudeau’s talk came in the lead-up to a Sept. 16 byelection in the Elmwood-Transcona riding in Winnipeg’s east end. The riding has a history of strong labour ties, and has been a NDP stronghold for most of the last 35 years.

–With files from The Canadian Press