Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) locked out Canadian rail Teamsters early Thursday morning after the union refused to accept major concessions on scheduling and safety.

By the end of the weekend, the Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) had imposed binding arbitration and a return to work at both rail carriers. The order ended the carriers’ lockout and overrode the Teamsters’ strike notice at Canadian Railway.

A rail shutdown would have had major impacts on supply chains and the economy throughout North America. Instead, rail Teamsters were stripped of their right to strike.

“CN and CPKC manufactured a crisis in order to get the federal government to do what they didn’t want to do and what Canada’s evolving federal labor law says they shouldn’t do: strip workers of their constitutionally protected right to strike and bargain collectively,” said Gil McGowan, the president of the Alberta Federation of Labour. 

The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference is appealing the ruling.

Carriers are pushing longer work hours, fewer breaks, and a forced relocation scheme in which workers would have to work away from home for months at a time. Rail Teamsters say these measures create safety concerns by fatiguing workers and will exacerbate staffing shortages.