Calgary Alberta - Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) says it has begun shutting down train operations ahead of a possible strike set to start Saturday by two unionized work forces.
 
The company says it has an embargo application in place on shipments going to or from CP's Canadian locations that will take effect just after midnight on 21 Apr 2018.
 
CP says it continues to bargain with both the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), which have given strike notices for this Saturday.
 
A spokesperson for the TCRC, which represents about 3,000 CP engineers and conductors, said Thursday that less than two days from a strike deadline they had no progress to report.
 
The potential strike comes at a difficult time for the railway, which is under pressure from shippers to move backed-up grain shipments and supply more trains to the pipeline constrained oil industry in Western Canada.
 
The Teamsters union reached a tentative deal with Canadian National Railway Co. (CN) last month for a new contract for about 1,700 workers.
 
CN's IBEW members ratified an agreement in April 2017.
 
Author unknown.