Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon met both the company and the union on Thursday. Both sides are still far apart on the question of wages.
MacKinnon has broad powers to tackle disputes and last month intervened within 24 hours to end a stoppage at the country’s two largest railway companies, Canadian Pacific Kansas City and Canadian National Railway.
Air Canada says this set a precedent. But while Ottawa has intervened several times in labor disputes over the last few decades, it has only done so after stoppages have begun, not before.
“We are not going to interfere, we are not going to take action before it really becomes very clear that there is no goodwill at the negotiating table,” said Trudeau.
The Business Council of Canada, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce issued a joint statement on Friday calling on Ottawa to intervene to prevent a strike before it began.
Of course they’re not interfering. The last time they did that with the railway, it cost them their supply and confidence deal with the NDP. If they do it again, do they think the Cons and the NDP will hold back on a confidence vote?
Is your government really worth whatever you’re personally getting from industry CEOs?
For a while now CN and CPK have had alternating contract negotiation years so they wouldn’t be on strike at the same time.
Last year when it was CN’s turn they decided to defer negotiations for a year.
This is ALL on them, and the fuck the gov’t should jump in because management couldn’t get off their lazy asses and take care of business.
Management is a parasite class. Produce nothing, extract value from people, claim that value would not exist without them.