Union launches court appeal over government move to end railway labour dispute

The union representing thousands of railroad workers has filed an appeal against the actions that ended last week's rail shutdown, which had halted freight and commuter traffic nationwide.

In submissions to the Federal Court of Appeal, the Teamsters union is challenging a directive from Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon, who ordered binding arbitration through a labour board following the lockout of 9,300 railroad workers from Canadian National Railway Co. (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. (CPKC).

In response to MacKinnon's directive, the Canada Industrial Relations Board mandated that the two major railways resume operations and that employees return to work until new contracts could be established through arbitration.

The union is contesting both the government directive and the tribunal's decisions.

Paul Boucher, president of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, expressed concern that the action sets a "dangerous precedent," potentially undermining constitutional rights related to collective bargaining.

"Without it, unions lose leverage to negotiate better wages and safer working conditions for all Canadians," Boucher stated in a release.

Industry groups raise concerns
Railway companies and industry groups have supported the minister's decision, arguing that it ended months of uncertainty and prevented further disruption to the supply chain after the Teamsters rejected arbitration.

CN described arbitration as a neutral process aimed at resolving deadlocks. "CN would have preferred a negotiated settlement," said spokeswoman Ashley Michnowski in an email. "However, after nine months of attempts, it was clear the Teamsters were not seeking resolution and were content to continue applying pressure by damaging the Canadian economy."

MacKinnon issued the back-to-work order less than 17 hours after the lockouts—and a strike by CPKC employees, though not CN’s—began. He stated that negotiations had reached a deadlock and that Canadian businesses, job security, and trade relationships were at risk.

Industry groups had warned for weeks about the economic impact of a prolonged shutdown. To avoid leaving freight stranded, CN and CPKC began scaling down operations nearly three weeks ago.

Last week, the shutdown brought the movement of goods, including car parts, crude oil, consumer products, grain, and potash, to a standstill, disrupting supply chains. Additionally, over 30,000 commuters in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver were left without access to passenger trains operating on CPKC-owned tracks.

The labour board’s August 24 ruling requires railways to continue operations and workers to remain on the job until arbitration is completed.

Late Thursday afternoon, the union filed four separate appeals in a Toronto courthouse, seeking a judicial order to "quash" the minister's directives and the labour tribunal's decisions related to CN and CPKC.

The appeals argue that these directives and decisions should be invalidated, claiming they were "ultra vires"—beyond the minister's legal authority. The court filing also contends that the directives and board decisions violated the union's freedom of association, protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

After a tense few weeks, the Teamsters and the two rail companies are scheduled to meet next month for the first time since the work stoppage to discuss a timeline for binding arbitration.