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WINNIPEG — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has defended his authorities’s transfer to name for binding arbitration and drive an finish to a piece stoppage on the nation’s two main railways, as some union leaders accused the federal government of taking away their bargaining rights.
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In a 15-minute speech on Wednesday to a gathering of the Worldwide Union of Working Engineers, Trudeau touted his authorities’s monitor document on labour legal guidelines and stated the decision for binding arbitration at Canadian Nationwide Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas Metropolis was made out of necessity and “reluctantly.”
“Sadly, CN and CPKC took the deeply unhelpful choice final Thursday to lock out workers after talks reached an deadlock,” Trudeau stated.
“That got here with a price of over a billion {dollars} of shipments per day … and it raised critical public security considerations, with the whole lot from propane for distant hospitals to chlorine for secure ingesting water being transported on our rails.”
CPKC staff went on strike on the similar time the lockout took impact. On Saturday, the Canada Industrial Relations Board accepted the federal government’s request and ordered binding arbitration and an finish to the work stoppage.
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The Teamsters Canada Rail Convention, which represents 9,300 railway staff, has blasted the federal government’s transfer, saying it takes away bargaining rights from staff.
The heads of the longshore staff unions from Montreal, Vancouver and Halifax additionally criticized the transfer.
“The choice units a harmful precedent for future labour disputes and sends a sign to Canadian firms that when negotiations get powerful, the federal authorities will at all times come to their rescue to assist them trample on their workers’ rights,” the unions stated in a joint press launch Wednesday.
Trudeau’s speak got here within the lead-up to a Sept. 16 byelection within the Elmwood-Transcona driving in Winnipeg’s east finish. The driving has a historical past of robust labour ties, and has been an NDP stronghold since its creation 35 years in the past, apart from one time period in 2011 when the driving voted Conservative.
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In his speech, Trudeau pointed to modifications his authorities has carried out since coming to energy in 2015, resembling a legislation to ban alternative staff throughout labour disputes, which was applauded by the viewers.
Trudeau didn’t take questions from reporters Wednesday, and media members had been informed to depart the room earlier than members of the union bought to ask the prime minister questions.
Later within the day, Trudeau paid a quick go to to the workplace of Ian MacIntyre, the Liberal candidate within the Elmwood-Transcona byelection, and thanked volunteers and supporters.
Within the night, he spoke to members of Manitoba’s Hindu neighborhood at a temple in south Winnipeg and praised Canada’s range.
“Canada is just not a spot that asks you to depart your Hinduism on the border while you come right here.”
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