Canada rail strike stopped by forced arbitration

A Canadian rail strike that started early Thursday morning will be short-lived as the federal government stepped in to force the union and two railroads into binding arbitration.

The federal government is now directing the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to "assist the parties in settling the outstanding terms of their collective agreements by imposing final binding arbitration," labour minister Steven MacKinnon said Thursday.

The minister has the authority under section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to mandate the sides return to the bargaining table, a tool the federal government was reluctant to use until now.

Operations for Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) and Canadian National (CN) stopped at 12:01am ET Thursday when they could not reach agreements over contract terms with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC).

Operations will resume at the railroads during arbitration.

By Brett Holmes