by Manal Barakat, SeaNewsEditor

On Saturday, 24 August, the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) ordered rail employees to end their strike and resume rail operations.

The decision came after Canada's Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon asked the CIRB to impose a final, binding arbitration after major rail carriers, Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), locked out employees on 22 August.

Rail operations across the country are expected to resume today, Monday, 26 August.

However, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference Union (TCRC) described the CIRB decision as a "dangerous precedent" and announced its plan to appeal.

In a statement, Paul Boucher, President of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, said, "The TCRC is extremely disappointed in the recent CIRB decisions. Rest assured, we will be challenging these rulings in court."

Meanwhile, the rail companies revealed that they will end the lockout to "fully comply with the CIRB order."

"CN will comply with the order, which also extends the current collective agreement until a new agreement is signed between the parties," said CN in a statement.

The recent development between the union and the railway companies shows that the situation remains unpredictable.

Kuehne+Nagel continues to monitor the situation closely and will update customers accordingly.