Cost of railway shutdown will be ‘borne by all Canadians,’ Ottawa warns

Freight trains across Canada could come to a grinding halt as soon as Thursday with roughly 9,000 railway employees nearing a looming strike or lockout date

The federal government said the impact of such a strike could be “borne by all Canadians.”

The union representing thousands of workers at Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. says it has served a 72-hour strike notice to the railway.

The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference issued a news release saying unless the parties can reach a last-minute agreement, workers will be off the job as of 12:01 a.m. Eastern time Thursday.

Not long after the union’s statement, CN Rail issued a notice that it intends to lock workers out at that same time unless an agreement or binding arbitration is achieved.

The company says no meaningful progress has occurred despite weekend labour negotiations.

“Unless there is an immediate and definite resolution to the labour conflict, CN will have no choice but to continue the phased and progressive shutdown of its network which would culminate in a lockout,” the company said in a release.

Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon said the stoppages could have an impact on all Canadians.

“These collective bargaining negotiations belong to CN Rail, CPKC and TCRC workers alone – but their effects will be borne by all Canadians,” he said in a statement.

Speaking to Global News, TCRC spokesperson Christopher Monette said the negotiations were about more than just money.

“The main issues now have to do with fatigue, rest, scheduling and forced relocation. The companies want to try to make it seem that our members are all exceedingly well paid and spoiled. But the reality now is that these are billion-dollar corporations, and our members are giving over 80 hours a week of their