150215-Minnedosa-Division668-Teamsters-2by Sam Heaton

A strike of more than 3,000 engineers, conductors, trainmen and yardmen ground to a halt on Feb. 16 when Canadian Pacific Rail (CP) workers, members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), agreed to a process of binding arbitration.

The strike began one minute after midnight the day before when workers walked off the job citing serious concerns for the safety of rail workers and the public alike.

Two days before, at 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 13, the Harper government quietly introduced legislation to declare the strike illegal. The bill, called An Act to provide for the resumption of rail service operations, was to be debated as soon as Parliament opened on Monday Feb. 16.

According to the House of Commons Notice Paper, the bill would be rushed through outside of normal procedures for legislation. A committee would be given just one hour to study the bill.

No text of the motion was ever revealed. Members of parliament complained during the debate that they were forced to discuss a bill of which they had read only the title.

Decoupled
Minister of Labour Kellie Leitch demanded that the bill be passed without delay. Failure to do so, she claimed, would leave hospitals without heat, stranding patients on cold floors—something she said she “cannot imagine.”

According to Leitch this threat was real because the strike would delay rail shipments of butane, ethane and propane. However, according to a Feb. 17 article from independent news website Blacklock’s Reporter, the Canadian Healthcare Association is unable to identify any hospitals heated by propane.

Leitch also testified to the number of letters she had received from people urging her to criminalize the rail workers as quickly as possible. The letters, she said, came from Texas­based Spectra Energy, Canadian mining firm Teck, and the Canadian Propane Association.

Repeating the mantra that “Canada is a trading nation,” Leitch and other Conservative MPs warned that any interference in rail transport would have devastating economic consequences. Opposition MPs who attended the debate on the back­to­work bill were unanimously against legislating an end to the strike.

Backtracked
Around 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 16, announcements began to appear — first from CP Rail, then from Minister Leitch, then the Teamsters — reporting that the picket lines were down and the TCRC had opted to submit to binding arbitration.

TCRC President Doug Finnson indicated that the back­to­work bill presented a stark choice to the workers.

“The worst thing that could happen is a legislated process,” he said in a Teamsters Canada press release.

“These issues are far too important to our members to have a legislated process decide the issue. [The] better option is to use a fair mediation and arbitration dispute resolution in front of an independent arbitrator, where we can demonstrate that our plan is a proven fatigue management system which is highly regarded for a long time and is far superior to what the employer seeks to obtain.”

This was the 11th time a federal government has introduced legislation criminalizing a rail workers’ strike. In at least two cases, including on Feb. 16, the legislation was withdrawn before voting took place.

Derailed
At least two crude oil trains went off the tracks in Canada and the United States during the less than 48 hours in which the strike was on.

The first, a 100­ car CN crash near Timmins, Ont. saw the cancellation of Via Rail between Toronto and Winnipeg on Feb. 15. Twenty­nine cars derailed while several caught fire and burned throughout the day..

In West Virginia, a state of emergency was declared in several counties on Feb. 16 after a 109­car crude oil train derailed partly into the Kanawha River. Some cars exploded and a nearby house caught fire. A local water treatment plant had to close.

Opposition MPs cited these as areas of immediate concern trumping the need to legislate the CP Rail workers back on the job.

The TCRC also says that CP Rail refused to comply with collective agreement provisions mandating rest after ten hours of continuous work. Operators and engineers say they are forced to work in a state of exhaustion and risk falling asleep at the controls. The union says such conditions cause mistakes and pose dangers both to the workers and communities in Canada.

Sidetracked
On Feb. 20, four days after forcing an end to the strike, the federal government introduced the Safe and Accountable Rail Act in the House of Commons.

The bill’s primary function is to increase insurance requirements for rail companies to be responsible for payment of damages in the event of an accident.

Some additional regulations include boosting the power of government inspectors and requiring worker schedules to take into account “principles of fatigue science.” However the bill does not propose any specific scheduling restrictions.

The legislation does not address CP Rail workers’ demands: improved safety with binding commitments to improve staffing levels, scheduling and training.

Tunnel Vision
If the tragedy was the serious violation of the rights of rail workers on Feb. 16, the farce came four day later with the announcement that Canadian National Railway would be locking out 4,800 workers at 11 p.m. on Feb. 23.

Unifor, which represents the workers facing lockout, had reached a tentative agreement with CP Rail on Feb. 14. That deal included safety improvements, which the workers demanded CN match. Holding the lockout over the heads of rail workers, CN urged them in a Feb. 20 press release to accept binding arbitration.

“Why isn’t CN considering the safety of Canadians?” asked Unifor president Jerry Dias in a statement released the same day.

CN had said in a Feb. 18 statement that if the workers did not accept their offers by Feb. 20 they would make unilateral changes to the collective agreement.

The House of Commons Notice Paper for Monday, Feb. 23 did not contain the introduction of any government bills to mandate CN to end its lockout to prevent adverse effects on the economy.

As of Feb. 22, Leitch has not issued any statements denouncing CN for threatening to leave hospitals without heat.

This article first appeared in the Leveller Vol. 7, No. 5 (Feb/March 2015).