While Canadian Pacific Railway and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference disagree on which side initiated the work stoppage at the railway, it began on Saturday, with both sides saying they are disappointed with that outcome. The stoppage began several hours ahead of the deadline established when CP issued a 72-hour notice of its plan to lock out Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC)-Train & Engine employees at 00:01 Eastern Time on March 20 if the union leadership and the company were unable to come to a negotiated settlement or agree to binding arbitration.
The union claimed CP “moved the goalpost” on the deadline while union leaders “were willing to pursue negotiations.” CP, on the other hand, said it “was still engaged in ongoing negotiations facilitated by federal mediators [when] the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference withdrew its services.”
CP is executing a shutdown of its train operations across Canada.
On March 17, in preparation for a potential work stoppage, the company announced an embargo on shipments routing to and from its Canadian locations to be effective March 20. The embargo, now in place, applies to all shipments originating in Canada that are billed to any Canadian or US destination, and all shipments originating in the US that are billed to any Canadian destination.
The company has also issued a notice of force majeure.
Intermodal terminal gates will remain open as long as capacity permits to enable customers to pick up and drop off containers.
