[Freight Weekly] Canada's Rail Workers Vote to Strike

✊Canadian railway workers vote to go on strike✊

Canadian railway workers working at the Class I rail systems Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City voted to go on strike as soon as May 22, 2024. The national Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) announced the strike in a May 1 news conference in Ottawa. Here is what you need to know:

• 95 percent of all Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) workers voted to go on strike, the union heads announced.

• Like much of North America and the world, Canada's class I rail system significantly impacts national and transnational economies. A strike could lead to economic stoppage and seriously harm Canadians.

• About 9,300 workers are expected to join the strike moving forward.

• Contracts for locomotive engineers, conductors, and rail yard workers at CN and CPKC expired on Dec. 31, 2023, and a deal has yet to be reached between union collective bargaining and the private railway operators.

• Transport Canada Minister Pablo Rodriguez reportedly said that the government is concerned about the negative impact on the economy. This could also negatively impact the U.S. and Mexican economies — all three of the major North American economic powers are still virtually integrated. One issue downstream would negatively harm all countries.

• Canada is a leading exporter of wheat products and canola, per Reuters.

Bottom line: Just like we see every time a union strike happens somewhere in the freight transportation system, economic capabilities will be threatened.

CONTEXT: North America supply chains imperiled by Canada rail strike vote

Quote of the Day: Potentially negative impacts on industry sectors…

"There is no plan B because, as we’ve said for decades, there aren’t competitive alternatives.” - Wade Sobkowich, executive director of Western Grain Elevator Association, via Reuters.

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