'They want government to do their dirty work': Canadian farmers feel helpless to stop rail disruption

As Thursday’s strike deadline looms and the two biggest rail companies in Canada prepare to lock out their workers, Saskatchewan producers are watching anxiously.

Some 9,300 conductors, engineers and yard workers at Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) have been bargaining on and off for months over a pair of new collective agreements, on top of a third deal for CPKC rail traffic controllers.

Sticking points in the talks boil down to crew scheduling, fatigue management and safety, according to the Teamsters, which represents rail workers. The union has rejected binding arbitration with both companies.

“The impending strike would be disastrous for our province,” said Ray Orb, president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM). “It would hurt rural municipalities to the extent that many of them might have difficulty collecting taxes if farmers can’t deliver their grain.”

Job action hasn’t started yet, but SaskOilseeds (formerly SaskCanola) says rail companies and grain elevators are already making changes ahead of any work stoppage.

“The basis is widening in some elevators,” said Dale Leftwich, policy manager with SaskOilseeds. “So already the price has dropped substantially. The rail companies have to make sure that they don’t get caught with products in the wrong position.”

In a release, the Saskatchewan Trucking Association says the potential disruption is causing havoc on trucking logistics, as many commodities can only be transported by rail, and the trucking industry cannot make up the shortfall of a work stoppage.

Minister of agriculture David Marit says, while the province understands and respects the right to fair labour practises and negotiations, there are far-reaching consequences to the dispute.

“Back-to-work legislation was used to end rail strikes/lockouts in 2022, 2015, and 2012 and it is time for the federal government to step up and ensure this work stoppage does not occur,” Marit said in an emailed statement.

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“I urge all parties involved to work towards an immediate resolution, whether through back-to-work legislation or a directive for binding arbitration.”

Leftwich says farmers don’t have a union they can press, or leverage on the railway companies to get results. Instead, SaskOilseeds is circulating a petition calling on the federal government to take action.

“Farmers in Saskatchewan, in western Canada, cannot be held hostage to people who refuse to sign an agreement,” said Leftwich.

And with countless farmers making up the rural municipalities in Saskatchewan, Orb agrees.

“I really think that the federal government should be looking at, calling parliament back. The MP should be debating some legislation that will make the railroads, pay attention, and workers will need to stay on the job.”

If producers are wondering who on earth would orchestrate such a chaotic interruption to the continental supply chain, one long-time labour advocate says they can place their blame at the feet of the rail companies — not the workers.

Larry Hubich, former Saskatchewan Federation of Labour president, took to X on Sunday to “connect the dots.”

“For the first time in history a bargaining impasse between both CN and the railway unions and CP and the railway unions has occurred simultaneously,” he said.

“I’m pretty certain that is not a mere coincidence. I’m also pretty certain that the simultaneous impasse was not orchestrated by the unions.”

A strike notice was only served against one company, CPKC, but in response, CN served the lockout notice.

Hubich says this indicates rail workers were prepared to only impact one railway at a time by staggering job action, “but the employers are in cahoots.”

“Employer groups/associations hate that workers have constitutionally protected rights and they want that stopped. They are prepared to create economic and political chaos so they don’t have to bargain fairly with workers,” said Hubich.

“They want government to do their dirty work. You pay.”

Federal labour minister Steven MacKinnon is meeting with both rail companies and the union this week, but says he won’t intervene in negotiations.

CPKC and CN Rail say they’ll lock out workers on Thursday at 12:01 unless an agreement with the union is reached.

--With files from The Canadian Press.