June 11, 2024 – The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) union has released a statement announcing that a tentative agreement has been reached with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Treasury Board. Members of the trade community can breathe easy as the threat of job action at Canadian borders has been averted. Full details of the tentative agreement will be announced once the ratification kit is available for union members on Thursday, June 13.

June 10, 2024 – The union that represents 9,000 Canada Border Services Agency workers says they won’t strike until at least Wednesday, as mediation continues. The Public Service Alliance of Canada initially said border workers were set to strike as early as 4 p.m. Friday if they hadn’t reached a deal, but have decided to extend negotiations. The union says similar strike action three years ago nearly brought commercial border traffic to a standstill and caused major delays across the country. The government says 90 per cent of front-line border officers are designated as essential, which means they can’t stop working during a strike. But union members could work-to-rule, a tactic where employees do their jobs exactly as outlined in their contracts. Experts say that could still cause serious slowdowns, which could turn into massive disruptions given the volume of traffic that normally moves across the border.

June 4, 2024 – Employees of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) could go on strike as early as this Thursday (June 6) if ongoing efforts toward an agreement fail. The two parties will continue the mediation process until then. A strike will likely impact non-essential CBSA operations; however, it’s expected that general processing times for all import clearances into Canada will increase. Consequently, border congestion is a primary concern, affecting land crossings, airports, seaports, and rail entry equally. The threat of a strike by CBSA personnel means uncertainty and disruption for Canadian importers. Canaan Transport is actively monitoring the ongoing labor dispute.

May 31, 2024 – A potential strike looms at border crossings across the country for more than 9,000 workers at Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) following the release of the Public Interest Commission (PIC) report. The release of the report – outlining the Commission’s recommendations to reach a settlement – starts the clock on job action and puts workers in a legal strike position as of Thursday, June 6. CBSA personnel represented by the Public Service Alliance of Canada and the Customs and Immigration Union (PSAC-CIU) voted 96% in favour of taking strike action earlier this month. Job action by CBSA personnel in 2021 nearly brought commercial cross-border traffic to a standstill, causing major delays at airports and borders across the country and a marathon 36-hour bargaining session to reach an agreement.

May 21, 2024 – The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514, representing ship and dock foremen, has agreed to delay serving 72-hour strike notice on employer DP World Canada at Centerm in order to take part in federal mediation and is refuting claims made by the BC Maritime Employers Association about the dispute.

May 17, 2024 – In an attempt to avoid a work stoppage and end the unpredictability for Canada’s supply chains, CN has tabled a new offer to the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC). CN said the offer respects Duty and Rest Period Rules and is aligned with scientific fatigue management practices.

At the same time, CPKC and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) leadership will resume meeting on May 17, with the assistance of federal mediators in an effort to achieve new collective agreements for train and engine (T&E) and rail traffic controller (RCTC) employees. On Wednesday, CPKC voluntarily offered to enter binding arbitration to avoid a work stoppage, however, the TCRC declined.

May 12, 2024 – The BC Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Ship and Dock Foremen Local 514 (ILWU Local 514) continued negotiations last week with the support of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). Citing "the union bargaining committee’s intransigence at the bargaining table," the BCMEA filed a complaint with the Canada Industrial Relations Board on May 10.

The 21-day cooling-off period concluded at 12:01 am PT on Friday morning. Therefore, the parties have acquired the legal right to strike or lockout, but may not exercise their right to strike or lockout until a strike or lockout vote has been taken and a 72-hour strike notice, including date and time of intended action, has been provided to the other party and the Minister of Labour.

May 1, 2024 – Workers for Canada’s biggest railways have voted to strike, setting the stage for a potentially crippling labour disruption that could stall freight shipments across the country. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference union says members working at Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike mandate as both sides remain far apart in labour negotiations.

The Teamsters could now call for a nationwide rail strike as early as May 22. It would impact around 9,900 train conductors, locomotive engineers and other workers. The strike vote comes at the end of the 60-day conciliation period between the railways and unions. Both sides are now in a 21-day cooling off period. No strike or lockout can take place until it concludes.

April 26, 2024 – Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) is preparing for the possibility of a strike by some 3,300 workers next month. "From my perspective, the positions haven’t changed much," President and CEO Keith Creel told analysts on a conference call Wednesday. Obviously, you have to hope for the best, but you also have to make sure you plan for the worst." While 6,000 Canadian National Railway (CN) workers are also in talks with their employer, there is a possibility of two rail work stoppages this spring, which combined could paralyze virtually all freight rail traffic in Canada. In February, the CPKC and CN called on the federal Minister of Labour to appoint a conciliator for the process of negotiating a new collective agreement for conductors, engineers and yard workers. The Notice of Dispute has set the legal stage for a possible strike or lockout, which could occur as early as May 22.

April 23, 2024 – The 1,200 longshoremen at the Port of Montreal rejected, by a margin of 99.5 percent, management’s latest offer to renew their collective agreement. The Maritime Employers Association (MEA), which represents the employer side, had stated that this settlement proposal represented the furthest they could go in the current context. Of the 1,206 members of this local of the FQ-affiliated Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), 1,078 were present, and rejected the employer’s offer by 99.54 percent.