Labour board orders end to rail stoppages

Teamsters will comply, but vow to appeal decision

- CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS AND JORDAN OMSTEAD

Rail workers picket in front of CN headquarters on Thursday. They have been ordered back to work by Monday.

Freight trains must start rolling again first thing Monday morning, the federal labour board ruled Saturday, as it ordered thousands of rail employees back to work to end a bitter contract dispute that shut down the country’s two major railways.

The decision from the Canada Industrial Relations Board imposes binding arbitration on all involved parties following an unprecedented dual work stoppage at Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City that halted freight shipments and snarled commutes across the country.

But the matter may not be settled for good, since the Teamsters union representing workers with both companies is pledging to appeal the ruling in court.

The board’s decision dropped two days after Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon directed the arm’s length tribunal to begin the arbitration process, saying the parties were at an impasse and Canadian businesses and trade relationships were at stake.

The union representing the 9,300 affected workers challenged the government’s move before the board, but the tribunal said it had no authority to decide whether the minister’s directive was valid.