CP rail workers may be legislated back to work as government tables bill

A strike by 4,800 workers at Canadian Pacific Railway has been ongoing for six days. Now the Conservative government's minister of labour Lisa Raitt will table back to work legislation this afternoon (May 28)

The strike has shutdown the company's freight operation and many companies dependent upon those operations have been urging the government to legislate the workers back on the job.

Raitt said: “Our government is really concerned that a disruption at Canadian Pacific will damage Canada’s fragile economic recovery,” A main stumbling block for the union is that the company wants to slash its pension costs. The new board at CP will probably be even harder on labor than the former board. CP rail is anxious to cut its costs and improve efficiency. No doubt much of this will come at the expense of labor. For much more see this Globe and Mail article.