The Canadian Meat Council and the Canadian Pork Council issued statements praising the federal government for intervening to get 9,000 striking railway members back to work.
The government is using legislation to impose binding arbitration for issues not already settled in bargaining between the Teamsters Union, Canadian National and Canadian Pacific-Kansas railways.
“Canada’s red meat processors need stable, reliable supply chains to run their businesses,” said Chris White, head of the Canadian Meat Council.
“The action taken by the Minister of Labour will prevent millions of dollars in losses, irreversible reputational damage, environmental disposal challenges, and enormous waste.”
The groups noted that last summer’s Port of Vancouver strike disrupted $10.7 billion dollars’ worth of trade during 35 days of strike action. The two railways’ strike “would have had even worse, unprecedented ramifications,” they said.
They sent letters to the government before the one-day strike began urging action to prevent an interruption of service.
