Vancouver Warns of Rail Strike Impact

December 1, 2009

1 December 2009

Vancouver Warns of Rail Strike Impact

This article is extracted from the 30 November 2009 edition of “The Journal of Commerce”.

Canada’s top West Coast port is warning the government and industry that the new strike by locomotive engineers against Canadian National Railway could leave lasting damage.

Port Metro Vancouver said threats to labor stability or the supply chain for the terminal area that it calls Canada's Asia Pacific gateway “have the very real potential to further damage the gateway's reputation for reliability.” …

With the TCRC strike just getting under way, Labor Minister Rona Ambrose, told the House of Commons Nov. 30 that the government was offering legislation to send strikers back to work and put the labor disputes under binding arbitration.

But as the strike continues, shippers are getting more worried that the impact will grow.

Port Metro Vancouver posted a notice on its Web site Nov. 30 of a letter it sent to government leaders.

The port said, “while we are aware that CN has the ability to implement strike contingency plans to maintain some freight operations, past experience has shown that the immediate impacts on this gateway will be significant and will escalate dramatically with each passing day of a strike.”…


Topic(s): 
Canadian Economy & Politics
Information Source: 
Canadian News Channel
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