Members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference at CP Rail have voted in favour of strike action.
The margin was over 94 per cent in favour, so some 3-thousand conductors and locomotive engineers could go on strike as early as April 21st.
A news release from Teamsters Canada says CP is demanding cuts and concessions despite posting billions of dollars in profits.
This news comes as farmers are trying to get their crops to market but are dealing with rail backlogs.
“Any disruption in any rail service right now in Western Canada would be a complete disaster,” says Ian Boxall, a Tisdale area farmer and vice-president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan. “There is a backlog and they are not fulfilling car orders to date. This last week, the railways were only at 69 percent of car orders fulfilled.”