Workers picket outside CPKC in Calgary amid rail work stoppage, Alberta leaders react

Rail workers are gathered outside Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) headquarters in Calgary Thursday morning as both of Canada’s major railways have locked out 9,300 workers after they failed to agree on a new contract by the deadline.

“We’ll be here as long as it takes,” union representative Bill Merriman told CityNews. “We all want to work, we all want to go home to our families, we all want to make a decent paycheck.

“But, when you’re strong-armed into ‘You will do this or else,’ you know, this is what has to happen. Unfortunately, it is what it is.”

“As the union, we’re not the bad guys in this situation,” he added. “It’s not the union that has forced this issue, it’s the companies.”

Merriman says it’s not just train conductors and engineers that are impacted by the work stoppage, but dispatchers too.

He adds union members are mobilizing across the province to advocate for a new contract.

“I know we have about 260 members in Calgary, there’s probably 75 to 100 in Red Deer,” Merriman said. “I would think probably close to 200 in Edmonton, we’ve got members in Lethbridge.

The shutdown marks the first-ever simultaneous work stoppage at Canadian National (CN) Railway and CPKC.

The Railway Association of Canada says the shutdown stops about $1 billion in goods traffic every day.

The work stoppage is expected to especially impact Alberta’s economy, particularly the livelihood of the province’s farmers.

“We won’t have the revenue to operate,” Allen Jones, who operates the Jones Herford Ranch east of Balzac, Alta., just north of Calgary, told CityNews. “There’s no magic here, we need this system to run.

“It’s important to get this thing figured out, sooner than later.”

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is echoing those concerns, following a meeting with federal labour minister Steven MacKinnon Wednesday

Smith said in a post to X she urged the minister to order binding arbitration to get both sides back to the table, adding the province has “grave” concerns over the potential stoppage.

“This stoppage will have a disastrous effect on Canada’s and Alberta’s economies. It will shut down the movement of essential goods right across North America and will cause food and supply shortages for all of us,” she wrote. “The federal government must fix this crisis now, and they have the tools to do so.”

In a post to social media, Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said a lockout would have “devastating” impacts on workers and the Canadian economy.

“Even a short disruption could take months to recover from. Prices could increase during an already-deep affordability crisis, and consumers could find it harder to get the products they need,” he wrote. “The impact will be even greater in Alberta, as many of our exports require reliable rail transport to get to market.”

The Opposition leader also slammed Smith’s call for back to work legislation, calling it “likely illegal” and “unconstitutional.”

This is a developing story.

Listen to 660 NewsRadio Calgary for the latest on the CPKC and CN work stoppage.

-With files from The Canadian Press