The good news: Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City trains are rolling just days after a work stoppage for the first time shut down most of the country’s rail network. The restart of operations came after the Canada Industrial Relations Board backed an order by Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon ending the lockout. …The not-so-good news: While the order bars labor stoppages during arbitration, the TCRC said it would challenge the constitutionality of the decision in court, so it’s unclear when the sides will reach agreement on new contracts. Moreover, recent Canadian Supreme Court rulings regarding government-imposed contracts could set up another work stoppage in as soon as a year. …The railroads had earlier called for government intervention in negotiations but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, unwilling to offend labor and its support for his government, had rejected those pleas. Until he didn’t.
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