Here’s what people in Ontario need to know about potential rail strike as deadline looms

It feels like there have been more strikes than ever in recent months as unionized workers in all sorts of sectors across Canada have stood firm and walked off the job in protest of what they see as insufficient wages, undesirable working conditions and more.

Following staff at Metro, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the LCBO, Nestle and many others before them, nearly 10,000 employees of the Canadian National Railway (CN) and the Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKR) are gearing up to walk out if a deal is not met this week after more than nine months of negotiations.

The main pain points are pay, benefits, scheduling, and changes to the rules surrounding fatigue management for engineers, dispatchers, conductors and others working long and/or late hours.

If the strike does take place, it will kick off at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, and will have disastrous impacts on commuter and freight transport within  Canada and across the border. 

Many businesses will be completely unable to operate, supply chains for countless products will grind to a halt, and tremendous and sudden stress will be put on the trucking industry as a lifeline. Metrolinx’s Milton and Hamilton GO lines would also cease to run.

Ottawa may choose to step in and force binding arbitration, though Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon refused a plea to do so last week.

“This highly profitable company is playing hardball with the Canadian economy, doing whatever it can to line the pockets of its managers and shareholders, no matter the consequences,” The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference said in a statement announcing its 72-hour strike notice on Sunday.

“We are ready to bargain, but CPKC needs to stop playing games and get serious.”

CN Rail issued a lockout notice on the same day, writing that “despite negotiations over the weekend, no meaningful progress has occurred, and the parties remain very far apart.”