Canada has ordered the country’s two main railroads to end the work stoppage that began on Aug. 22 after labor negotiations deadlocked.

On Aug. 22, Canada’s Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon intervened to order a binding arbitration process between the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) and Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC). The order was mediated by a third party, the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB), which ruled on Aug. 24 to allow the order and impose binding arbitration.

“I have directed the Canada Industrial Relations Board to assist the parties in settling the outstanding terms of their collective agreements by imposing final, binding arbitration,” MacKinnon said during a press conference. “I have also directed the board to extend the term of the current collective agreements until new agreements have been signed, and for operations on both railways to resume forthwith.”

MacKinnon said it’s the government’s job to ensure “industrial peace.”

“We will be examining why we experienced repeated conflicts in the railway sector and the conditions that led to the parallel work stoppages we are seeing,” he added.

Strike Averted, but Teamsters Look to Appeal Order

The Teamsters are against the “forced arbitration” saying the “rights of Canadian workers have been significantly diminished.” Despite serving CN a notice that it intends to strike as off 10 a.m. ET on Aug. 26 shortly after the minister’s order, the Teamsters now say they will “lawfully comply with the CIRB decision” and therefore not strike.

However, the Teamsters officials say they will appeal the ruling to federal court.

TCRC had told CPKC on Aug. 23 that it wished to “make submissions to challenge the constitutionality” of the minister’s order.

[Editor’s Note: This developing story was last updated on Aug. 24 at 11 p.m. ET to add that details of the decision by the Teamsters to follow CIRB’s ruling. It was previously updated on Aug. 23 to include news about the union issuing a strike notice to CN and to update the headline.]

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