Many Canadians believe in the value of collective bargaining and the reaching of contract settlements by negotiated means. This is, after all, a primary goal of the many labour unions that represent workers in all manner of jobs across this nation, from health care workers to teachers to construction labourers and those in retail outlets like grocery stores.
The employees of CP Rail who are conductors and engineers are also unionized, represented by the Teamsters rail division, and they were ordered back to work by the federal government.
Prior to this, workers for Air Canada and Canada Post had been ordered back to work by legislation brought down by the Harper government, and to the rail workers at Canadian Pacific, this just seems like just one more being treated unfairly.
There is a difference this time, however, that the rail workers should be able to appreciate, even though it may not lead to a resolution of their labour issues like they were hoping for.
With the shut down of freight trains, many segments of the economy which are dependent on the railway for delivering their product, or produce, were hurt, and it may take some sectors months or years to recover.
For example, for grain producers on the prairies, the only viable way they have to get their grain out to the West Coast (or to the St. Lawrence Seaway, for that matter) is by rail. Trucking is much more costly and much less efficient in moving grain than the grain cars on freight trains, particularly those trains moving 50 and 100-car blocks at a time.
When suppliers, such as grain terminals, are all of a sudden left with no way to deliver grain as per contract, they are then deemed as "unreliable suppliers" and the customers begin to look elsewhere for the grain, such as competing countries like the United States, or Europe or Australia, or even Â鶹´«Ã½AV America. The customers don't care that it's not the suppliers' fault - they only know they're not getting the grain they contracted for.
As one grain supplier, Weyburn Inland Terminal, said, it may take years, if ever, to shake off the stigma of being known as an "unreliable supplier". This is just one example; there are also shippers of other products and manufactured goods, of coal and oil also, who are all affected. So, it falls to the government to make sure that the CP Rail workers get a fair settlement in return for legislating them back to work.
