Union shows cracks as back-to-work law prepared for rail strike

OTTAWA — Canada Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn officially filed notice with Parliament that he would be introducing back-to-work legislation to end the 13-day strike by 2,800 CN workers.

The legislation would likely be voted upon Friday. An all-party agreement could mean the rail conductors and switchyard employees could be back on the job by the weekend. But if stalled in Parliament-and the NDP has said it would oppose the proposal-the disruption would likely still drag on.

However, more cracks are starting to show within the United Transportation Union as nearly 350 workers voluntarily crossed picket lines and returned to work in Eastern Canada yesterday.

CN’s says its longstanding corporate policy permits strikers who wish to return to work to resume duty. “I want to stress that CN is neither encouraging nor soliciting striking UTU members to return to work,” said E. Hunter Harrison, president and CEO of CN.

“Mr. Beatty and others have blatantly misrepresented the facts. CN, contrary to his false claim, is not blocking the return to work of UTU strikers.”

According to news reports, a strike settlement is
being made difficult by a rift within the union.

Even as the union sat back down with the company and a government mediator on Tuesday to resume negotiations, division within the UTU leadership reportedly continues. Canadian and U.S. union officials have been at odds since the strike began because Canadian representatives did not get authorization from union head office in Cleveland before ordering workers to walk off the job.

As a result, CN tried to get the Canada Industrial Relations Board to rule the strike illegal. Rather, the CIRB upheld the strike action this week.

UTU headquarters later suspended the union’s original negotiating team led by chairperson Rex Beatty. There were also accusations Canadian officials were attempting to steer members into the Teamsters, which, even as a rival union, has vocally supported the UTU’s right to strike.

According to several news reports, the union is still split into two camps, which is making negotiations difficult.

The strike has crippled several Canadian sectors, including forestry, dry bulk, chemical, and parts of the auto industry in Southern Ontario. The Port of Vancouver is being described “a mess” as containers pile up.

A fuel shortage due to a refinery fire at imperial Oil is being exasperated by the strike because the company can’t easily bring in additional product from the U.S.

And the mining industry is the latest segment to urge a quick end to the strike as the disruption takes its toll.

“The shipment of fuel and other supplies to mine sites is being compromised as is the transport of mining products, which may cause a halt in production and closure at some sites,” said Peter Jones, chairman of MAC and President and CEO of HudBay Minerals Inc.

While workers on the Mackenzie Northern Railway, which
connects the NWT to Alberta, are not part of the strike, CN Rail has been unable to provide enough tank cars to refineries to meet the necessary fuel re-supply commitments.

Timing is critical, says the Mining Association of Canada, because the fuel is delivered to the mines on a seasonal ice road that typically closes by the end of March due to melting ice.

— with files from Sun Media