The contracts for locomotive engineers, conductors and yard workers in Canada’s two railways expired at the end of 2023.  It was announced on May 1st that 98% of the affected workers had voted in favour of a strike by May 22nd.  That date has been pushed back as federal regulators stepped in considering the vital role the railways play in our economy.  I get this feeling of déjà-vu thinking we’ve seen this movie before.   Strikes, the withholding of labour by workers in order to obtain better wages or working conditions, have been around since before workers were organized into trade unions.  There’s mention of strike action by Montreal railway workers as early as 1855.  The early 1900’s saw some major railway strikes prompting the federal government to do something.  They came up with the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act in 1907.    Throughout the 20th century there were a number of strikes in various sectors but I’m looking at railways in particular.  Trivia note:  we say railway in Canada.  It’s railroad in the U.S.  (Semee-semeye, roote-rout, zed-zee, leftenant-lootenant, and so on).    Anyway, I mentioned deja-vu because the longest railway strike in 10 years in this country was just prior to Covid in 2019 when CN reached a tentative agreement with workers after 8 days on strike.   This latest dispute appears to be centered on rest periods between shifts. It goes without saying rail movement of our grain and mining product is critical in Saskatchewan. 

That’s Coffeetalk. I’m Vic Dubois.