The clock is ticking on potential rail delivery disruptions across Canada.
The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) issued a 72-hour strike notice to Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC). At Canadian National (CN), the company provided its employees with a lockout notice.
Both come into effect at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time on Thursday.
Unless the TCRC and both railways can come to agreements, more than 9,000 workers will be off the job and freight trains will come to a halt before the end of the week.
In Canada, rail is a major contributor to ag products getting to export markets.
About 94 per cent of Canadian canola is moved on train tracks, the Canadian Canola Growers Association says.
Overall, Canada’s freight railways move over 900,000 tonnes of goods each day, the Railway Association of Canada says.