The shutdown at Canada’s two major railways last week was not the first time a simultaneous work stoppage brought trains to a halt in this country.
Joint job action at Canadian National Railway and what was then Canadian Pacific previously stopped rail traffic from coast to coast in 1950, 1966, 1973 and 1987.
News reports from all four strikes note the consequences for a range of industries, from agriculture and retail to mining and forestry.
Greg Gormick, who heads On Track Consulting, says that in 1950, as now, rail companies found themselves in competition with trucking firms and workers demanded big gains after a period of unsatisfactory wage boosts.
“The railways had come out of the Second World War in pretty beat-up shape because they had handled most of the transportation needs of both the military and the domestic economies,” Gormick said.
“Thanks to rationing, they couldn’t replace equipment. There were strict controls,” he said, noting that industrial capacity was aimed at churning out war equipment.
Workers across sectors had largely put demands for improvements to wages and working conditions on pause as part of the broader war effort. But as in the COVID-19 pandemic, the crucial role rail workers play in running an economic lifeline had become evident during the crisis – and they expected due compensation as peace settled in and prosperity increased.
“So you saw a rise of strikes immediately after the war concluded, and they wouldn’t be charged with being unpatriotic,” said Peter McInnis, a labour historian at St. Francis Xavier University.
Ultimately, the government stepped in to end the shutdown, like it did last week.
In the late summer of 1950, Liberal Prime Minister Louis St-Laurent deployed Royal Canadian Air Force planes to fly parliamentarians back to Ottawa for an emergency session to pass back-to-work legislation.
The job actions of 1966 and 1973 came amid a wave of labour activism, set in motion by a wildcat strike by Canadian postal workers in 1965. That walkout occurred before public sector employees had the right to strike, but resulted in civil servants winning the right to collective bargaining.
The strikes of the 1960s and 1970s also emerged amid generational change, including within union ranks and leadership. The more aggressive stance of some members occasionally boiled over into violence.
On a hot August day in 1973, more than 200 striking rail workers stormed Parliament in what media accounts described as an alcohol-fuelled assault on Centre Block that culminated in a violent clash with the RCMP.
The rampage ended “after 45 minutes of window breaking, shouting, scuffling with police and security guards and fighting among themselves,” according to a United Press International report.
The violence bore no resemblance to the peaceful rallies in Montreal, Calgary, Halifax and other cities across the country over the past week.
But transport sector unions have shown a renewed willingness to dig in their heels over the past couple of years, visible in post-pandemic strikes by B.C. dockworkers, WestJet mechanics and pilots and St. Lawrence Seaway employees.
“There’s also been a rise of union expectations around militancy,” McInnis said.
Experts say last week’s four-day shutdown, which ended Monday morning after a labour tribunal decision ordered the companies and their workers to resume operations, marked the first time the two railways had locked out their employees simultaneously.
The Canada Industrial Relations Board on Saturday told Canadian National Railway Co. CNR-T and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. CP-T to resume operations and 9,300 workers to return to their posts at 12:01 a.m. ahead of binding arbitration set to begin Thursday.
The labour board’s decision dropped two days after Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon directed the arm’s-length tribunal to begin the arbitration process, saying the parties were at an impasse in contract talks and Canadian businesses and trade relationships were at stake.
The union has vowed to fight the labour board’s decision in court, framing the outcome as a win for big business.