Back to work legislation to end CP strike could be necessary or livestock will starve to death, farm group says

The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association called on the federal government to force CP workers back to work if there is no resolution to the rail strike.
Canadian Cattlemen’s Association president Bob Lowe asked the federal government “for the immediate introduction of back to work legislation” on Monday and said there might be no other way to avert a disaster. At the same time, he said he expected a quick end to the labour disruption.
The CP Rail strike began on Sunday, March 20 and each strike day has a one-week ripple effect on the livestock industry, industry operators say.
CP workers went back to work on March 22 after CP and its union agreed to enter into arbitration. The strike affected 3,000 CP workers.
To feed cattle Canadian beef operators have been importing feed from the U.S. using C.P rail, Lowe said. “This winter due to weather and COVId-restrictions some cattle producers were within hours of running out of feed. We only have a one-to-two week buffer of feed in the system before we won’t have any feed for our cattle.”
Lowe added that there are not enough trucks to replace the trains and they have no alternative solutions.
“Covid has caused a whole lot bunch of things to go wrong,” Lowe said. “We have suffered through a drought and CP Rail slowing down because of Omicron and cold weather. This (CP strike) could be the most devastating thing that we’ve seen and it’s human caused. From our point of view it is very easy for humans to fix this problem and we don’t have a lot of time.”