Last week the Port of Prince Rupert was trumpeting the banner year that the Grain elevator and coal terminal had celebrated, with the best totals since 2000 and a steady stream of product coming through the terminals in the last year.
In a few weeks, that story may change quite a bit. As the transportation grid that links Prince Rupert to the rest of Canada and to the world could possibly suffer a major slowdown due to a labour dispute.
Canadian National Railways has been hit by job action from the company’s conductors and yard workers. Represented by the United Transportation Union and numbering some 2,800 workers, they walked off the job at 12.01 Saturday morning as negotiations broke off unsuccessfully in Montreal.
CN has declared its intentions to try and have the strike declared illegal by the Industrial Relations Board a move that has been dismissed by the Union. CN has also vowed to keep the railroad operating despite the labour dispute, a declaration that while probably welcomed by the Canadian Wheat Board, still hasn’t detracted from their worry over the current situation at hand.
Already the Wheat Board says that shipments have been slowed by cold weather and rail problems leading to delays at the key ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert, the strike that has hit the railroad will only add to their headaches as they try to move the current backlog of over 2,000 cars, a number that they fear will grow with labour trouble at the railroad.
The problem will be much more problematic for Prince Rupert than Vancouver; while CN does serve the Vancouver market CP Rail also runs trains into the Vancouver terminals, while CN is the exclusive carrier of commodities to the Prince Rupert port.
Various Canadian media sites had full details of the strike; we list some of their contributions below.
CBC News --CN Rail Union on strike
In a few weeks, that story may change quite a bit. As the transportation grid that links Prince Rupert to the rest of Canada and to the world could possibly suffer a major slowdown due to a labour dispute.
Canadian National Railways has been hit by job action from the company’s conductors and yard workers. Represented by the United Transportation Union and numbering some 2,800 workers, they walked off the job at 12.01 Saturday morning as negotiations broke off unsuccessfully in Montreal.
CN has declared its intentions to try and have the strike declared illegal by the Industrial Relations Board a move that has been dismissed by the Union. CN has also vowed to keep the railroad operating despite the labour dispute, a declaration that while probably welcomed by the Canadian Wheat Board, still hasn’t detracted from their worry over the current situation at hand.
Already the Wheat Board says that shipments have been slowed by cold weather and rail problems leading to delays at the key ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert, the strike that has hit the railroad will only add to their headaches as they try to move the current backlog of over 2,000 cars, a number that they fear will grow with labour trouble at the railroad.
The problem will be much more problematic for Prince Rupert than Vancouver; while CN does serve the Vancouver market CP Rail also runs trains into the Vancouver terminals, while CN is the exclusive carrier of commodities to the Prince Rupert port.
Various Canadian media sites had full details of the strike; we list some of their contributions below.
CBC News --CN Rail Union on strike
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