Billions In US Trade Put At Risk After Thousands Of Workers Locked Out In Union Dispute

Billions of dollars worth of U.S. trade was put in danger due to a Canadian railroad lockout of more than 9,000 employees Thursday after the parties failed to reach new labor agreements, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City locked out the employees after reaching an impasse in negotiations with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, with the two parties failing to come to deals by the 12:01 a.m. Eastern time deadline, the WSJ reported. The decision disrupted much of the hundreds of millions of dollars in trade that occurs daily along the U.S.-Canada border and could have thrust American supply chains into disarray. (RELATED: Airline Union Tells Workers To Prepare For Strike That Could Endanger Summer Travel Plans)

“The economic repercussions of a rail work stoppage of this magnitude would be devastating locally, and given the interconnectivity, consequently impact the movement of goods in the United States and beyond,” the U.S. Agriculture Department wrote in an August 15 on the implications of a Canadian railway work stoppage.

However, the Canada Industrial Relations Board told Canadian National Thursday evening that it planned to issue a formal order for the company to enter forced arbitration with the Teamsters, a Canadian National spokeswoman told the Daily Caller News Foundation. The company then ended its lockout at 6 p.m. in preparation.

“[Canadian National (CN)] announced today that effective 18:00 ET, it ended its lockout and immediately initiated its recovery plan,” the spokeswoman told the DCNF. “As CN awaits the formal order from the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB), the Company is making this decision to expedite the recovery of the economy. While CN is satisfied that this labour conflict has ended and that it can get back to its role of powering the economy, the Company is disappointed that a negotiated deal could not be achieved at the bargaining table despite its best efforts.”