Sask. gov’t passes motion asking feds to make railways an essential service

The Saskatchewan government will be asking the federal government to deem rail service essential.

The government passed a motion Thursday after an emergency debate on the potential of a strike at CP Rail.

On Wednesday, Premier Scott Moe unveiled a petition calling on the feds to start working on back-to-work legislation right away in case there is a rail disruption. The petition also asked for work to begin on legislation to make rail service an essential service, which would preclude any future disruptions.

The Saskatchewan Party couldn’t bring its motion in the Legislature, but the NDP brought one of its own.

The NDP said a rail stoppage would be devastating for Saskatchewan, but also wanted to affirm workers’ rights.

Instead, the Sask. Party amended the NDP’s motion, replacing the part about workers’ rights and asking the federal government to prepare the back-to-work legislation and to start work on making rail an essential service.

That amended motion ended up passing.

Meanwhile, across the country, a number of Canadian business organizations called on the federal government to prevent a potential work stoppage at CP Rail.

Roughly 45 industry groups said in a statement that any disruption would hamper Canada’s freight capacity and have a profound effect on the broader economy as it recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

CP Rail issued a 72-hour notice on Wednesday to the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference of its plan to lock out almost 3,000 employees on Sunday if the union and the company can’t come to a negotiated settlement or agree to binding arbitration.

The two sides are at odds over 26 outstanding issues, including wages, benefits and pensions.

The industry groups say the government must do everything in its power to get the union to agree to immediately enter into binding arbitration to resolve this matter without a work stoppage.

— With files from The Canadian Press