Legislation introduced to end CP strike

   Legislation to end a strike against Canadian Pacific Railway by 4,800 workers represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference was introduced into Canada’s House of Commons on Monday.
   The Restoring Rail Service Act would require employees to return to work and resume rail service while imposing a binding arbitration on CP and the Teamsters
   CP said in a statement that it was “disappointed that a negotiated settlement was not reached, we will cooperate with any decision made by the Minister of Labour and Parliament to swiftly end this work stoppage.”
   “There is no other meeting planned with CP for the moment. In brief, the talks are stalled,” the union said.
   As of 2 p.m. Monday, Canada’s Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service was no longer involved in the negotiations process, and the Teamsters said “it appears the strike will continue as long as the back to work legislation is not passed.”
   Doug Finnson, vice president of Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, accused the railroad of negotiating in bad faith and “hiding behind the federal government since the very beginning of the process.”
   CP said it had a plan to restart operations in a “safe manner, making certain that fluidity and balance returns to the entire network as soon as possible, to the benefit of all of our customers.”
   The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said Canada’s Labor Minister Lisa Raitt wants CP’s trains moving again by Thursday.
   The broadcaster said Barry Prentice, a professor at the University of Manitoba, believes it could take more than a month for CP to clear bottlenecks related to the strike. – Chris Dupin