A legal strike would still require 72 hours’ notice
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
The Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) will present its decision to CN and CPKC next month, the two railways said in separate statements.
The CIRB “informed CPKC (and CN) that it intends to issue its decision regarding the Ministerial Referral on the maintenance of activities by Friday, August 9,” CPKC said in its July 12 statement.
About 10,000 workers between the two railways and represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) planned to strike in May, but Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan intervened and asked the CIRB to get involved.
Under the Canada Labour Code, the minister can ask the CIRB to investigate and decide which activities need to continue if a strike or lockout occurs. During that process, parties are banned from striking or locking employees out.
Once the CIRB renders its decision, a legal strike or lockout still requires 72 hours’ notice, subject to an extension of the cooling off period.
“We have asked the CIRB to extend the cooling off period by 30 days,” CPKC says in its statement.
Ag groups are urging both sides to come to a mutually beneficial agreement.
Shipping issues in 2013-14 cost Prairie farmers about $6.7 billion. Farmers can’t afford another similar situation, said Ian Boxall, president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan.
“Without swift resolution, this standoff threatens not just our province’s agricultural sector heading into harvest season but the economic well-being of our nation,” he said in a July 15 statement. “We must act now to ensure our farmers aren't left bearing the brunt of this looming crisis.”
“It's imperative that all parties involved recognize the high stakes and work collectively towards a solution,” he added. “Our nation's economic security and the livelihood of our farming communities depend on it.”