Canada's freight trains will soon roll again after labor lockouts. Here's what to know

abcnews.go.com:

Canada’s two largest railroads should soon start rolling their trains again after the government intervened to end a shutdown that arose from a labor dispute

TORONTO — Canada’s two largest railroads are expected to soon start rolling their trains again after the government intervened to end a shutdown that arose from a labor dispute.

After Canadian National and CPKC failed to reach new agreements with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference union by an overnight deadline early Thursday, both freight railroads locked out their workers — halting all rail traffic in Canada and shipments into the U.S. But, less than a day into the full stop, the Canadian government ordered both freight railroads to enter binding arbitration.

Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon expects trains to be running again within days. Meanwhile, the union representing 10,000 engineers, conductors and dispatchers responded angrily to the order, accusing CN and CBKC of intentionally creating a crisis to force government intervention. Its picket lines remain in place.

Here's what to know.

It comes down to a labor-contract dispute and responding government intervention.

CN and CPKC railroads both locked out their employees after a 12:01 a.m. EDT deadline to resolve a dispute with Teamsters Canada Rail Conference passed without agreements. As a result, all of their trains in Canada stopped moving along with shipments crossing through the U.S. border. That posed the potential of significant economic harm to business and consumers across both countries, which rely on billions of dollars of goods running on rails each month.

Throughout the day Thursday, both sides negotiated unsuccessfully while workers picketed outside. Business groups urged the government to