Surrey, B.C., grocer Aman Narula is relieved the rail strike has ended, but says the challenges for his business are not yet over.
“We are having issues with shortage of supply,” he told CBC News.
His store, which heavily relies on flour transported from the Prairies by rail, has seen a significant reduction in deliveries, with shipments arriving at less than half the usual volume.
“So, we’ve had to take measures like implementing a ‘one per family’ policy,” said Narula, vice-president of Sabzi Mandi Supermarket. He explained the policy is a precaution to prevent hoarding, similar to what occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re trying to minimize panic,” he added.
Narula noted that, for now, the supply chain disruption hasn’t driven up the price of flour but it could change if suppliers are forced to rely on more expensive transportation methods, such as trucks.
The complete shutdown of Canada’s two major railways ended on Saturday when the Canada Industrial Relations Board ordered Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) rail employees back to work. The resolution came after federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon intervened, imposing binding arbitration between the Teamsters union and the railways.
“We’re obviously very relieved that this strike ended quickly,” said MacKinnon on Sunday during a press meet at Halifax. “When you think of a billion dollars a day in economic losses and virtually every sector of the economy affected, it was crucial to bring this to a resolution.”
The Teamsters union has served Canadian National Railway with 72-hour strike notice, hours after saying it was taking down picket lines and workers were returning to their jobs. Grocery stores across the country are expected to be affected with shortages of some goods.
The disruption threatened to cause widespread economic damage, with estimates from the ratings agency Moody suggesting that a prolonged strike could have cost the Canadian economy $341 million per day.
The Teamsters union, which represents more than nine 9,000 rail workers, says it will comply with the board’s decision but plans to appeal it in federal court.
“It’s an extremely disappointing decision that has robbed workers of their ability to collectively bargain with the federal government,” said Christopher Monnet, the director of public affairs for Teamsters Canada, while speaking with CBC News from Montreal on Sunday.
“All they have to do is budget a few days of shutdown, stop their operations, put pressure on the Canadian economy and the feds will swoop in to save them from having to face a union.”
No need for panic, expert says
Gary Newbury, a retail supply chain expert based in Toronto, says he doesn’t anticipate the brief stoppage driving up prices.
“I don’t think there’s going to be much disruption,” he told CBC News in a Zoom interview. “If it had gone on for a week or two weeks, we would have seen a major impact on our shelves.”
He said there is already a large amount of inventory in B.C. for many consumer goods, including food, so there won’t necessarily be an immediate impact.
“My message to the consumers is don’t panic,” he said.
West Coast Express commuter trains resume Monday
The work stoppage also impacted commuter services in Metro Vancouver, where the West Coast Express — a key commuter rail line linking Mission, B.C., to downtown Vancouver — was forced to shut down last week due to a lack of rail traffic controllers on the CPKC tracks the service uses.
TransLink, the region’s transit authority, announced the West Coast Express would resume operations on Monday, although some delays are expected due to the backlog in freight traffic.
The effects of the shutdown extended beyond commuters.
At Conifex Timber’s sawmill in Mackenzie, B.C., the strike led to a reduction in the operating schedule, cutting the workday in half for 250 employees.
Despite the resumption of rail services, the company expects these disruptions to last “for the foreseeable future,” according to COO Andrew McLellan.
“It could be some time before our shipment levels normalize,” said Ken Shields, chairman and CEO at Conifex, in a phone interview.