Teamsters say NLRB decision undercuts Amazon delivery ownership model, could boost unionization
The Teamsters are cheering a decision by a regional office of the National Labor Relations Board that Amazon is a joint employer at a delivery service partner (DSP) in California that recognized a Teamsters local’s representation of the DSP’s drivers.
While the decision has not yet been published by the NLRB, the Teamsters said its delivery drivers who are represented by Local 396 in Palmdale, California, had won a victory at the NLRB’s Region 31 board, which operates in Los Angeles.
“After more than a year-long investigation, [the regional board] found that Amazon is a joint employer of its Delivery Service Partner (DSP) drivers and therefore has a legal duty to recognize and bargain with the Teamsters union,” the union said in a prepared statement.
A spokeswoman for the union said it had been informed by NLRB personnel about the decision.
The workers were employed by a DSP called Battle Tested Strategies (BTS). They voted last year to be represented by the Teamsters through a card check process, and the company recognized the union. Amazon soon after yanked the DSP contract with BTS.
Amazon delivery drivers represented by Teamsters Local 396 in Palmdale, Calif., won a groundbreaking decision that sets the stage for Amazon delivery drivers across the country to organize with the… pic.twitter.com/kcEnjC8D4x
Amazon has long held that drivers delivering goods ordered from Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) do not work for the logistics and retailing giant. Rather, they are employees of their DSPs, who have been granted the right by Amazon to serve a defined area.
But the decision by the regional board of the NLRB rejects that finding.
And in an acknowledgement of the stakes that the decision raises, the union said in its statement that it is “confident the NLRB’s regional determination for the Palmdale workers will extend to Amazon DSP drivers who unionize nationwide.”
The NLRB regional board authorized the issuance of a complaint against Amazon. That complaint will be heard at a trial before an NLRB administrative law judge in Los Angeles, according to Julie Gutman Dickinson, a partner at the law firm of Bush Gottlieb in Los Angeles and a longtime outside counsel for the Teamsters.
Dickson said whatever decision comes out of that trial could be appealed to the full NLRB in Washington. She said there was no firm estimate on when the trial might be scheduled.
“There are huge, huge legal implications, because we believe the model in Palmdale is the same as DSPs throughout the country,” Gutman Dickinson said. The regional decision “sets the stage” for a legal process that could determine that Amazon is a joint employer with the DSPs, “and will have a duty to recognize and bargain with any union that represents the majority of those employees.”
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from FreightWaves.
However, in comments to the Los Angeles Times, an Amazon spokeswoman said the NLRB had dismissed “most of the Teamsters’ more significant claims.”
“As they have been for over 15 months, the Teamsters continue to misrepresent what is happening here,” Eileen Hards told the newspaper. “As we have said all along, there is no merit to the Teamsters’ claims. If and when the agency decides it wants to litigate the remaining allegations, we expect they will be dismissed as well.”
But the Teamsters painted a different picture of the as-yet-unpublished decision.
“The NLRB Region in Los Angeles also found that Amazon engaged in a long list of egregious unfair labor practices at its Palmdale facility, including unlawfully refusing to recognize the workers’ decision to unionize with the Teamsters; failing and refusing to bargain with the Teamsters over conditions of employment and the effects of its decision to terminate its DSP’s contract; threatening employees with job loss; holding unlawful captive audience meetings; intimidating employees with security guards; and other illegal retaliation against the group of newly unionized workers,” the union said in its statement.
The reality on the ground for the roughly 85 BST workers at Palmdale who voted to unionize is that they have been on strike since April 2023 against an employer who had its DSP status revoked.
The Teamsters also are fighting a case before the NLRB with parallels to the Battle Tested case.
A DSP in Skokie, Illinois, Four Star Express Delivery, saw its roughly 100 drivers vote earlier this year to be represented by Teamsters Local 705. They struck in late June. The end result was a layoff notice and the termination by Amazon of the Four Star contract to be a DSP.
Port of Los Angeles adds Calhoun to leadership team
The Port of Los Angeles has appointed Erica M. Calhoun as deputy executive director overseeing the city of Los Angeles Harbor Department’s Administrative Bureau.
In this newly created position, Calhoun will be responsible for the planning, direction and management of several key divisions at North America’s busiest container port. Calhoun has served as interim deputy executive director of Harbor Administration since May.
“Erica is an incredibly talented professional and valuable member of our Harbor Department team,” said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka in a release. “Her dedication, leadership and hard work over the past two decades with the City of Los Angeles have paved the way for this new role, a well-earned and deserving promotion. I couldn’t be more excited for her.”
In her new post, Calhoun will oversee the port’s human resources function for the department’s nearly 900 employees, as well as risk management, contracts and purchasing and the commission office. In Seroka’s absence, she will serve as acting executive director of the Harbor Department.
Calhoun began her port career in 2012 as a senior management analyst in the Grants Unit and joined the port’s Executive Office in December of that year. In 2015 she was appointed chief of staff to the executive director, the first African-American woman to hold that position.
Calhoun, who has a total 23 years working for the city of Los Angeles, previously served as assistant officer In charge in the Los Angeles Police Department’s Budget Section, where she helped manage a $1.3 billion budget. She also served in a civilian oversight capacity in the Los Angeles Police Commission’s Office of the Inspector General and as a grants manager with the city’s housing department.
Calhoun has an undergraduate degree in Spanish language and literature from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master of Science degree in public administration from California State University, Los Angeles.
Teamsters Canada issues 72-hour strike notice against CN
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 23 with new information.
Canadian National Railway announced it has received a 72-hour strike notice from the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, which would launch a strike against the railroad at 10 a.m. ET on Monday.
CN had ended its lockout of TCRC engineers and conductors at 6 p.m. Thursday, after Canada’s labor minister, Steven MacKinnon, announced he would order CN and CPKC to resume operations and send the dispute between the railroads and the TCRC to binding arbitration. The strike notice comes after the union announced early Friday morning it would return to work at CN but maintain its picket lines at CPKC, which has not yet ended its lockout pending an order from the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB).
The union said in a statement Friday that it issued the strike notice “to protect workers’ right to collective bargain and frustrate CN’s attempt to force arbitration” as a measure “to pressure CN into negotiating an agreement.” It noted that the CIRB has yet to make a ruling that would require binding arbitration or end any work stoppage.
“By sidestepping the collective bargaining process and ordering binding arbitration, the federal government has undermined the foundation on which labour unions work to improve wages and working conditions for all Canadians,” TCRC President Paul Boucher said. “Bargaining is also the primary way our union fights for rail safety — all considerations that outweigh short-term economic concerns.”
Whether a strike actually occurs remains highly uncertain.
“The impact of this notice will depend on the timing of the CIRB,” CN said in its statement Friday afternoon. “It is in the national interest of Canada that the CIRB rule quickly, before even more harm is caused.” CN also said the strike notice “confirms that the Teamsters never took the negotiations seriously and they had no desire to reach a deal.”
The strike notice posted on the TCRC website says, “We do not believe that any of the matters we have been discussing over the last several days are insurmountable and we remain available for discussion in order to resolve this matter without a further work stoppage.“
The CBC reports that Teamsters Canada President François Laporte said this morning in Calgary, Alberta, that company demands would have broken the union’s collective agreement. “We believe in fair and honest bargaining and that’s what we want: We want a fair and honest bargaining with the company.”
Laporte and other union officials were appearing at a rally outside CPKC headquarters.
This is a developing story.
Union Pacific adds peak surcharges in Southern California
Citing surging demand for its fleet of domestic containers, Union Pacific has assessed peak season surcharges out of Southern California.
“Union Pacific is experiencing an increase in demand for EMP and UMAX domestic container capacity out of Southern California,” the railroad’s Premium Business Team said in an announcement to customers. “It is anticipated that demand will increase further in the coming weeks. Action is being taken to reposition containers and increase train capacity to meet the needs of shippers.”
The company said that in accordance with the terms of the Mutual Commitment Program (MCP), which offers shippers container capacity in exchange for volume commitments, it is declaring Southern California a “constrained market.” Beginning Sept. 1, UP (NYSE: UNP) will apply surcharges for weekly standard and aggregate shipment volume above the surge allowance for each MCP Agreement out of contracted markets.
The surcharges are $300 per shipment for Standard MCP and $500 for Aggregate MCP, the latter typically lower volume shippers.
West Coast ports including Los Angeles-Long Beach have seen a flood of eastbound trans-Pacific volume as shippers move holiday merchandise early to avoid supply chain disruptions.
“We will continue to monitor demand in all markets and make changes to the list of constrained markets or surcharge amounts with notice,” the announcement added.
Running on Ice: Cold chain chaos averted
This year’s Future of Freight Festival takes place Nov. 19-21 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. But it’s not your average conference. Sure, there are wonderful speakers and fireside chats. But that’s only half the fun. F3 is set up with half-days of speakers and amazing content. The other half we take over downtown Chattanooga, and there are events, networking and a lot of fun to be had by all. This year, subscribers to Running on Ice get a promo code exclusive to us! You can register with this link or use the code F3ROI24 at checkout for a discount.
All thawed out
(Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)
All eyes were on the Canadian railroads this week as tensions between the railroads and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference came to a boiling point. The Teamsters had issued a strike notice on Monday following Canada’s 72-hour notice strike law. In response, Canadian Pacific Kansas City and Canadian National issued lockout notices for the Teamsters.
As of Thursday morning at 12:01, the companies had essentially come to a halt over failed union negotiations.
Enter Steven Mackinnon, the Canadian minister of labor. MacKinnon said Thursday morning, “[I]t is my assessment that the parties are at a fundamental impasse. Therefore, it is my duty and responsibility to invoke my authorities under the Canada Labour Code to secure industrial peace and deliver the short and long-term solutions that are in the national interest.”
MacKinnon sent all parties back to work and officials to binding arbitration.
This stopped the country from coming to a halt, as Canadian carriers could not absorb the volume sent by rail into the trucking market.
Mike Millian, president of the Private Motor Truck Council of Canada, said in Noi Mahoney’s article, “The removal of one train load requires roughly 300 trucks to move the same product. We simply do not have that kind of capacity available in the network. The rail shutdown will affect 65% of their revenue, which will be catastrophic, and in the near term is going to lead to having to park trucks and lay off workers.”
While the contract talks are far from over, it’s a huge relief to the supply chain and anyone dabbling in cold chain freight in Canada.
Temperature checks
(Photo: Shutterstock/David Sing)
A key development for the world of heart transplants is highlighted in a study courtesy of the University of Gothenburg. The use of heart-in-a-box technology has significantly reduced the risk of early heart failure in transplant patients compared to traditional cold storage methods. The heart-in-a-box oxygenated system allows a heart to function better and extend transport times, improving outcomes for the recipient.
The existing method of heart transplant storage is to keep the organ at 4 degrees Celsius in potassium solution in a cooler with ice. The clock starts on a four-hour window the minute that heart hits the ice. The window includes recipient matching, transportation and surgery to avoid increasing the risk of complications for the recipient.
With the introduction of the heart-in-a-box, that window extends up to nine hours as the device keeps the heart at 8 degrees Celsius and is oxygenated using a pump, a set of tubes, a reservoir and a fluid that is circulated through the resting heart while waiting for transplantation.
Food and drug
(Photo: Chick-fil-A)
Eat Mor Chikin is the tagline for Chick-fil-A and a goal the chicken sandwich giant seeks to expand on by building a new cold storage warehouse in Miami. Chick-fil-A has over 50 stores in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, making this cold storage warehouse a much-needed facility for its continued success.
The facility will be over 150,000 square feet and will operate around the clock 24 hours a day, except on Sundays. Some things remain constant with the fast-food giant known for all operations and stores being closed on Sundays. The facility will support all Chick-fil-A restaurants in South Florida, where the company first served its signature chicken.
South Florida is known for storm surges, hurricanes and flooding, which Chick-fil-A has taken into account. It has petitioned the county to allow it to raise the building pad and the area directly around the warehouse and distribution center by 6 inches. The existing site and its loading docks often flood after heavy rain, so this will make the building more climate-resilient.
Cold chain lanes
SONAR Tickers: ROTVI.MIA, ROTRI.MIA
This week’s SONAR market goes to Miami. Produce season has come and gone, and reefer outbound tender rejections are on the decline as the ROTRI dropped 128 basis points week over week for an outbound tender rejection index of 5.62. Reefer outbound tender volumes have dropped from the beginning of the month, setting Miami up for a slow end to the month. The ROTVI is at its third-lowest point for the year, offering little hope to Miami finishing the summer strong. The busy part of hurricane season is right around the corner in September and October, which could make for a rough end of the third quarter for the Miami freight market.
Wanna chat in the cooler? Shoot me an email with comments, questions or story ideas at moconnell@www.freightwaves.com.
See you on the internet.
Mary
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Canadian rail lockout ordered to end; freight creeps in the DMs; Tesla Semi scam | WHAT THE TRUCK?!?
Feb 5th at 1:20 PM
On Episode 750 of WHAT THE TRUCK?!?, Dooner is talking about the Canadian government ordering an end to the rail lockout. CN has ended its lockout, but CPKC is continuing its work stoppage.
Scammers are targeting zero-emission fleets in California by offering them bogus Telsa Semi reservations. Talon Logistics Inc.’s Mike Bush talks about how it works and why his company didn’t fall victim to it.
A couple of ladies of logistics clap back against creeps contacting them in their direct messages. Just how serious is this problem, and how frequently are women facing harassment online? Shimmi Munson and Lacey Wanczyk share their experiences.
Journey’s Will Jenkins demos his brand new AI role-playing tool. It allows you to practice cold calls, warm calls, discovery calls and more with AI robots that respond like your target prospects.
Plus, Massachusetts bans new diesel trucks; Pilot sponsors the Volunteers; hybrid workers; and the problem with conestogas.
FreightWaves Infographics: US-Mexico trade hits record $415B through first half of year
To view more FreightWaves infographics, click here
Court allows CBRE to sell Yellow’s remaining properties
A Delaware bankruptcy court ruled Friday that Yellow Corp. could retain real estate broker CBRE to sell its remaining terminals, which include 46 owned and 70 leased locations. Counsel for the debtors also said submission of a final Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan to the court will happen in the coming days, ahead of the expiration of the company’s exclusivity period.
According to Friday testimony, the CBRE request was unopposed by stakeholders to the estate, including the official committee of unsecured creditors, which had previously voiced concerns that the liquidation of the defunct less-than-truckload carrier was too costly and taking too long. Earlier this month, some of Yellow’s (OTC: YELLQ) creditors accused the debtors of dragging out the process, fighting legitimate claims in attempts to garner a recovery for stockholders even though “every conceivable” scenario shows shareholders “are out of the money.”
The estate has incurred more than $100 million in professional fees since the bankruptcy filing a little more than a year ago. On the eve of Friday’s hearing, two law firms representing Yellow filed compensation and expense reimbursement applications with the court totaling more than $3 million for June.
To the credit of Yellow’s handlers, $2 billion in proceeds has been generated from the sale of more than 160 terminals. The estate has also auctioned more than half of its 60,000 pieces of equipment (mostly tractors and trailers). The money has been used to repay all of Yellow’s funded debt and bankruptcy financing. The estate ended July with a cash balance of $352 million, according to a monthly operating report filed with the court.
Yellow’s counsel also said Friday it would submit a Chapter 11 plan to the court before the exclusivity period ends on Sept. 2. Yellow has been able to oversee the liquidation of assets for the past year as competing plans from other financial parties have not been allowed. The court gave Yellow another 90 days to execute its strategy in early June. The unsecured creditors’ committee recently said it may look to block any further extensions if requested.
The retention of CBRE appears to put to rest the formation of a real estate investment trust to manage the remaining properties. Yellow’s attorneys floated that idea at the early June hearing as a potential strategy for maximizing recovery to creditors.
In addition to how much the estate’s remaining assets will fetch, stakeholders are interested to see how the court rules on other pending claims. Pension fund withdrawal liability claims totaling more than $7 billion, stemming from the company’s early withdrawal from the plans, remain before the court. The court will also decide on up to $244 million in WARN Act claims from former employees who say they weren’t given a required 60-day notice ahead of mass layoffs last year.
Bank borrowing points to infrastructure developer Voltera’s maturity
A sign that startups are moving beyond their sometimes anxious early days comes when banks lend them money. It is starting to happen among certain nascent transportation and infrastructure developers.
When debt isn’t a dirty word
Many financial planners counsel individual households to erase debt. It is sort of the opposite for businesses. Bank borrowing can suggest health rather than distress.
For electric infrastructure developer Voltera, a $100 million debt facility – call it a credit line for capital investment – from ING Americas and Investec is a new source to grow its portfolio of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.
“As a business,we are always looking [for] the lowest cost of capital that we can so that our projects can be financed less expensively and we can have lower price points for our end customers,” Voltera CEO Matt Horton told me.
Voltera has invested $150 million in real estate to develop charging depots like the rendering above for heavy-duty electric trucks. (Image: Voltera)
Using equity financing, either through directly issuing new shares or promising them through a convertible debt term, costs more than what banks typically charge for a loan secured by collateral that protects the lender.
Voltera is using long-term contracts signed with electric fleet customers who pay to charge at its commercial depots. The quality of its real estate holdings matters to lenders, too.
“For us it really is a big validation of where we are as a business and the maturity that infrastructure in the charging space is moving into,” Horton said. “We think this will follow the same path [of] wind and solar and others … to become a mainstream investment category.”
Only the beginning?
Transforming commercial transportation to zero tailpipe emissions with adequate charging infrastructure will cost tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars.
“This is the starting gun for a tremendous amount of investment that’s going to flow into this space,” Horton said. “There are trillions of dollars of infrastructure capital sitting on the sidelines waiting for EV charging to mature to be a mainstream, investible infrastructure category.”
Voltera came out of stealth mode in 2022 backed by Stockholm-based EQT, which manages $273 billion in assets. EQT is still doing equity financing with Voltera, Horton said. Grants and other subsidies provide additional money to plow into future charging sites.
Over recent decades, bank borrowing financed build-outs in telecommunications, data centers, and solar and wind farms.
“All these big industries that have had to scale significantly, a major turning point for them is [when] the strength of the businesses and the contracts and the counterparties get the debt markets and banks comfortable to lend capital based on the projects that are being deployed,” Horton said.
Voltera in May 2023 committed to invest up to $1 billion to finance hydrogen fueling outlets for Nikola. (Photo: Nikola)
But it’s not universal. Only as companies show a meaningful path to success do they get the banks interested. Voltera partnered with fuel cell truck maker Nikola to finance up to $1 billion to develop hydrogen fueling stations on up to 50 of its sites. Nikola lacks the financial strength to build out its planned hydrogen distribution on its own.
Debt facilities usually cheaper than equity financing
“Companies generally prefer to raise capital with debt offerings, which typically translate into a lower cost of capital,” Nikola CFO Thomas Okray told me.
Nikola relies almost entirely on equity financing, selling new shares to raise capital. Over time, that has diluted the holdings of current shareholders. On Monday, Nikola pulled the trigger on another equity-based raise, issuing convertible debt for $160 million. It took half now – at 5% annual interest.
Nikola’s already depressed stock dropped 9.41% lower on Monday, contributing to a five-day decline of 14.84% through Thursday..
“Some new businesses that do not have established businesses have difficulty – due to credit-worthiness – getting debt financing at attractive rates,” Okray said in a statement not pertaining specifically to Nikola. “These companies raise capital with equity.”
“It really depends on the company, its leadership, business model, TAM [total addressable market], technology leadership, etc.,” David Maday, Aurora CFO, told me. “In our case, it was those proof points instead of customer contracts.”
Volvo revealed its new VNL with the Aurora Driver at the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo in Las Vegas in May. (Photo: Alan Adler/FreightWaves)
Maday is no fan of borrowing to finance debt.
“Debt financing should be a last resort for companies that do not have positive free cash flow unless the financing is long-tailed at very attractive rates, or if no other options exist,” he said.
Convertible debt mollifies investors who want some guaranteed return, Maday said. “But my general feeling is converts are just more expensive equity financing.”
A new asset class
Andrew Karetsky founded Skyview Ventures in 2008. He has watched clean-tech businesses evolve from equity to debt financing with tax credits for green projects as a third revenue source.
“It was mostly real estate guys,” Karetsky told me. “They’d build them with equity, which is not the most efficient use of your equity. And then they would [ask], ‘How can I put debt on it; how can I realize the value of the ongoing incentive[s]?’”
Skyview operates infrastructure developer Skycharger as one of its three businesses. It sees the same opportunity for electrification as other clean-tech predecessors. Skycharger is developing a charging site at the Port of San Diego. It also has a contract with Pepsi for charging delivery vans and trucks in Northern California.
“As things matured in the solar market, debt and tax equity became institutionalized. And it allowed a smaller amount of equity to leverage the number of projects that we were doing. I would anticipate the same thing’s going to evolve here. It’ll [allow] the equity piece to recycle to build [more sites] more quickly.”
The post-pandemic stress in traditional commercial real estate is also a factor.
“It’s a new asset class,” Karetsky said of electric infrastructure. “If you’re an institution that has a high concentration of debt in a certain area, you’re probably looking to expand into other areas. This is another area of expansion.”
Workhorse tries to hang on for electric trucks to catch on
The Cincinnati-based electric step van and chassis maker has just $5.3 million in cash. Money due on the sale of vehicles was entangled in red tape surrounding buyer incentives.
“The first half of 2024 saw slower-than-anticipated industrywide electric vehicle adoption rates, driven by the lack of government policy enforcement and delays in funding incentives available to our California dealers,” Workhorse CEO Rick Dauch said on the company’s earnings call Tuesday.
Less than 2% of Class 4 to 6 new truck registrations – where Workhorse plays – have received California Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project incentives over the past two years. That is well below the 9% targeted for the fleet operators in 2025.
“We’re optimistic that demand going into 2025 and beyond will begin to materialize and grow, driven by increasing federal and state emission requirements and mandates,” Dauch said.
Delayed mandates challenge Workhorse’s survival
Those mandates include enforcement of California’s Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) and Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) rules. Three legal actions challenge the implementation of those rules that effectively make a market for zero-tailpipe-emission vehicles in the Golden State.
Enforcement cannot come soon enough for Workhorse, which has laid off half its workforce and sold its drone business to conserve cash. The company has $112.7 million of $139 million left to tap from a securities purchase agreement reached in March.
But Workhorse’s flagging share price – despite a 1:20 reverse stock split in June – fell below the Nasdaq listing requirement of $1 following Tuesday’s earnings report and traded 19.26% lower over the past five days through Wednesday. That could reduce how much money it can access from future stock purchases.
Calstart forecasts that approval of the ACT rule by additional states and California’s implementation of the ACF rule will lead to significant sales growth of electric trucks.
“Being a pioneer in the commercial EV space is hard work, and we need both industry and government leaders to live up to their public commitments on addressing GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions,” Dauch said. “To generate revenue and establish a viable business here at Workhorse, we need customers to buy trucks.”
Briefly noted …
Volvo Trucks’ biggest customer, DSV, has signed on for 300 heavy-duty electric trucks in Europe, among the largest single orders to date.
Middle-mile autonomous truck developer Gatik continues to look east for investment, adding Japan-based Nippon Express Holdings as a strategic investor.
Hong Kong-based Jardine Engineering Corp. is the latest to sign a non-binding deal with Hyliion Holdings to explore use of Hyliion’s Karno fuel-agnosticgenerator technology.
Truck Tech Episode No. 79: Safety technology embedded in new Volvo VNL platform
In a look at Volvo’s all-new VNL over-the-road truck, marketing manager Maddie Sullivan provides a deep dive into safety enhancements possible from using Volvo’s global safety platform.
Have you used your discount offer for the Future of Freight Festival in Chattanooga, Tennessee, this November? It’s time. Meanwhile, time is short to submit nominations for the FreightTech 25. Nominations close at 6 p.m. EDT on Sept. 6. Winners will be announced at F3.
That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading and watching. Click here to subscribe and get Truck Tech delivered to your email on Fridays. And catch the latest episodes of the Truck Tech podcast and video shorts on the FreightWaves YouTube channel.Send your feedback on Truck Tech to Alan Adler at aadler@firecrown.com.
Canada’s labor minister puts and end to CN and CPKC work stoppage
OTTAWA — Canada’s freight rail work stoppage — the first to shut down both Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City simultaneously — is over.
Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon this afternoon ordered the railways to resume operations after sending the disputes to binding arbitration. The work stoppage began at 12:01 a.m. today after CN and CPKC locked out engineers and conductors represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, as well as CPKC rail traffic controllers.
“These collective bargaining negotiations belong to CN Rail, CPKC and TCRC alone — but their effects, and the impacts of the current impasse, are being borne by all Canadians,” MacKinnon said. “As Minister of Labour, it is my assessment that the parties are at a fundamental impasse. Therefore, it is my duty and responsibility to invoke my authorities under the Canada Labour Code to secure industrial peace and deliver the short and long-term solutions that are in the national interest.”
The existing contracts between TCRC and both railways will be extended until new agreements are signed. Negotiated agreements are always preferable, MacKinnon said, but the needs of the nation outweighed the need for a contract deal reached at the bargaining table.
“Workers, farmers, commuters and businesses rely on Canada’s railways everyday, and will continue to do so. It is the government’s duty and responsibility to ensure industrial peace in this critically vital sector,” MacKinnon said. “Thus, we will be examining why we experience repeated conflicts in the railway sector and the conditions that led to the parallel work stoppages we are seeing. Canadians can be assured that their government will not allow them to suffer when parties do not fulfill their responsibility. Especially where their livelihoods, worker safety, and communities are at stake.”
Last week MacKinnon denied CN’s request to send the stalled contract talks to binding arbitration.
“Consistent with our discussion on August 5, 2024, I would like to clarify that it is your shared responsibility — Canadian National Railways Company and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference — to negotiate in good faith and work diligently towards a new collective agreement,” MacKinnon wrote on Aug. 14.
At the time, and with a strike deadline a week away, he said that federal mediators were standing by to assist in contract talks.
