Central ND News

BISMARCK — Employees of Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) and Canadian National Railway (CN), represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, voted in June to authorize a strike for railway workers in Canada. The Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) ruled last week that any resulting work stoppage would not cause an immediate threat to public health and safety, clearing the way for a work stoppage as early as August 22.

On Friday, U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure, spoke with Canadian Ambassador to the United States Kirsten Hillman to reiterate the importance of preventing a work stoppage. Cramer is a founding chair of the bipartisan, bicameral American Canadian Economy and Security (ACES) Caucus, which was created to strengthen the economic and national security relationship between the two countries. With harvest beginning in North Dakota, Senator Cramer sought to re-emphasize his concerns.

“I spoke with Canadian Ambassador Kirsten Hillman today on a phone call and I reiterated the urgency of averting a work stoppage,” said Cramer. “Our two countries enjoy close economic, trade, agricultural, and security ties, but we are very different politically, and in our traditions. I stressed the importance of timely intervention to avoid a work stoppage rather than respond to a work stoppage, a big difference. I’d rather avoid one than respond to one. I also reminded her of the extraordinary actions of the United States Congress to prevent a rail strike in 2022, here in the United States. She assured me she remembered and that she has passed it along.”

Last month, Cramer wrote a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau highlighting the fundamental role railroads serve for both economies and consequently the significant detriment delivery disruptions would cause to most essential products.

The United States faced the threat of a similar work stoppage in 2022. In December 2022, Cramer and U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) sent a letter to their Senate Republican colleagues urging them to vote in favor of an emergency agreement to avert a potential railroad labor strike, which passed both chambers and was soon thereafter signed into law.