November 17, 2019 – Conductors, Trainpersons and Yardpersons (TCRC-CTY), which represents approximately 3,200 CN employees working as train conductors and railyard coordinators in Canada, issued a strike notice on Saturday, putting them in a position to strike as early as 00:01 hours Eastern time on Tuesday, November 19. CN advises that it will continue to negotiate in good faith to reach a fair agreement before the strike deadline and remains committed to constructive talks to reach an agreement without a work stoppage. In a notice to stakeholders, James Cairns, Senior Vice-President, Rail Centric Supply Chain and Keith Reardon, Senior Vice-President, Consumer Product Supply Chain, said they believe that, with the assistance of federal mediators, CN and the Teamsters can avoid a labour dispute that would be "very disruptive to the Canadian economy." In the event of a work stoppage, said the notice, CN does not have a sufficient number of qualified managers to maintain safe operations across its Canadian network. Should employees decide to strike, customers should anticipate service disruptions. The Freight Management Association of Canada shared that it was informed of the involvement of Labour Canada’s mediators in the negotiations. In other CN-related news, the company announced last week that it will "lay off an unspecified number of workers and take other measures to reflect demand," as reported by Global News.