Concerns over rail labour disputes linger, as the 2024 harvest comes to a close
The 2024 growing season came, once again, alongside real and threatened labour disputes impacting the movement of grain by rail. In late August an unprecedented alignment of tense contract talks between the Teamsters union of both of Canada’s Class 1 railways, Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), resulted in the lockout of over 9, 000 unionized workers. For the first time in history the over 85 per cent of rail operations controlled by the two companies ground to a halt. While the dual work stoppage was short, after the intervention of the federal government to impose binding arbitration, farmers are all too familiar with the impacts of any disruption in service in the Canadian grain handling and transportation system. Even one day of service disruption can have major economic consequences and create further service delays in the system – not to mention the impact on our international reputation.
International markets demand reliability and predictability on delivery, when choosing a supplier of grain. Western Canadian farmers have witnessed devastating effects of rail service disruptions during the crisis in the 2012-13 harvest year. Not only did it have a debilitating effect on farmers, but on the reputation of Canada as a reliable shipper of commodities, this single event is still on the minds of our international buyers today. Still, we are seeing challenges year over year.
This growing season alone, in addition to the labour dispute with CN and CPKC we have seen members of the Grain Workers’ Union (GWC) Local 333 initiate strike action at the port of Vancouver impacted six terminals which last roughly four days. While according to the Agricultural Transport Coalition (ATC) data, which Alberta Grains is a partner to, the Vancouver terminals did manage to continue unloading rail cars, the effects still spread through the entire rail transport system, with arrivals of trains to the port dropping by 50 per cent to avoid congestion. As well as less direct impacts on the movement of crop inputs, with additional labour action by the longshoremen (Canadian Union of Public Employees) at the Port of Montreal. While the recovery in the system is well underway, the impacts on the grain farmers will be felt through economic penalties and delays in shipments at this critical harvest period.
Rail has often been described as the lifeblood of the western Canadian grain industry, but certainly extends to many industries and rural economies in Alberta alone.
Matt Jones, Alberta's minister of jobs, economy and trade has estimated that the rail shutdown will impact at least $55 million of Alberta exports per day1. To that end, Alberta Grains has joined the Community Rail Advocacy Alliance which brings together Alberta municipalities, industries, association and regions to bring a united voice to government and the rail industry, calling for action to be taken to ensure the rail system gets back on track to provide a reliable and equitable rail system that allows provincial exporters, producers, and communities to maintain competitiveness and our reputation as a reliable supplier in an increasingly globalized world.
As we move forward, agricultural advocacy groups continue to lobby the government for permanent, long-term solutions to correct imbalances in the rail system, including those that result in the numerous labour disputes that continue to arise. Intervention by the government to impose tools proactively in instances that can cause such major disruptions to all industries across Canada, is mandatory. The Grain Growers of Canada, a national advocacy group to which Alberta Grains is a member, has cited the contrast between Canada and our largest trading partner and competitor, the United States in resolving rail labour disputes; through the U.S Railway Labour Act which governs disputes between railway carriers and labour unions, they have been able to avoid almost all major rail disruption in over 102 years.
There is some precedent set in Canada for provisions within the Canada Labour Code that require maintenance of activities for services to grain vessels (section 87.7 (1)) by the long-shoring industry, which as a result during a labour dispute in 2023 saw relatively little impact to the grain sector. Other provisions in the labour code and otherwise need to be explored and enshrined in legislation to ensure that these disputes are not simply left to good faith.
Alberta Grains will continue to work in collaboration across the industry to push all-levels of government to keep the attention on both rail labour concerns and higher-level issues related to trade infrastructure and the overall provision of reliable, predictable and balanced rail service.
Other resources:
Flip the Switch Advocacy Campaign – to extend the pilot on extended interswitching