Bruce Leighty – stock.adobe.com

The Canadian rail shutdown has exposed vulnerability in the agricultural supply chain. For instance, the U.S. imports more than 80% of its potash from Canada. Many depend on the rail service to transport a wide range of commodities and goods.

Canada’s top two railroads — Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) — locked out more than 9,000 unionized workers on Thursday, August 22. This triggered a temporary rail stoppage.

Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon then asked the Canadian Industrial Relations Board to order an end to the stoppage and impose binding arbitration on Thursday afternoon to mitigate risk to the economy. A CN spokesman reported that the trains were starting to run and there was a plan to resume operation. As of Friday morning, the lockout at CPKC continued.

President of Teamsters Canada Francious Laporte called the announcement unacceptable. He claimed the workers would remain on strike. The Teamsters union filed a notice that conductors, locomotive engineers and other workers at CN would be on strike on Monday.

The dispute is the result of a disagreement on safety issues and scheduling.

Read more about the Canadian rail strike implications here.