Canadian Pacific Railway Strike Ends; Teamsters Canada Union Agrees To Mediated Arbitration

Teamsters Canada agreed to end its one-day railway strike, Canada's labor minister announced Monday afternoon. With the help of federal mediators, the union will resume labor talks with Canadian Pacific Railway, the nation's second-largest railroad company.

After contract negotiations failed to produce an agreement, more than 3,000 engineers and operators walked off the job early Sunday. The work stoppage risked major economic impacts: Alberta's tar sands producers depend heavily on trains to carry their oil to refineries. The auto industry, too, relies on rail. Labor Minister Kellie Leitch told reporters each week of the dispute would have subtracted $164 million from Canada's GDP.

Parliament was slated to consider a bill that would have ordered strikers back to their jobs. In 2012, the government used a similar measure to end a weeklong strike at Canadian Pacific.

The union says talks broke down last weekend after disagreements over shift lengths and scheduling issues.

“The company is unwilling or unable to give us a schedule of when we’re going to work," a Teamsters official in Thunder Bay, Ontario, told local press. "Basically you get a two-hour call and then you’re off to work and you don’t know how long you’re going to be."