Concern, frustration grows as CPKC, CN rail labour dispute continues

globalnews.ca:

labour dispute is costing farmers between $40 million and $50 million a day. A city councillor says the stoppage has disrupted the daily lives of residents.“We’re going to have to talk to our banks and talk to our creditors and say, ‘Hey, you know what I thought I could do? I can no longer do it,’” Grain Growers of Canada Chair Andre Harpe told Global News.“It’s not been a pleasant experience for anyone,” Maple Ridge, B.C.

councillor Ahmed Yousef said.Concern and frustration continues to grow as Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) trains aren’t running and with Teamsters at the other country-wide railway, Canadian National, set to strike on Monday.Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon previously said he will impose final, binding arbitration to end the dispute and to “secure industrial peace”. The Canada Industrial Relations Board, a mediating agency, could issue a decision as soon as Saturday.But the union for all rail workers, Teamsters Canada Railway Conference (TCRC), said they are looking at all options and that the picket lines will stay up.Harpe said a stoppage now is “particularly bad” for the agricultural sector because most farmers have started harvesting.He said many farmers have contracted their grain to be sold as soon as they can — and that “usually we don’t have enough storage, we don’t plan on storing our crops,” he said, speaking from Alberta.“Basically, our income has stopped until (the Teamsters) actually go back to work and the rail companies are actually running full steam.”Further west, Maple Ridge, B.C.

councillor Ahmed Yousef said the West Coast Express commuter train uses CPKC rails, and so it isn’t running. He says it has been a “disruptor” to the residents who work outside of the city.Maple Ridge is