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Canada PM leans on trains and union to settle problems, avoid major stoppage

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prompted on Wednesday the nation's two primary rail business and the Teamsters union to settle their differences and prevent a blockage that might cause billions of dollars worth of financial damage.

Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City have stated they will lock out their workers early on Thursday unless brand-new labor offers can be concurred. The two have never ever closed down at the same time.

Talks in between both business and the union have actually made little development, with each side implicating the other of bad faith.

Trudeau informed reporters in Quebec that his federal government was following the matter closely.

My message is extremely simple. It is in the best interest of both sides to continue doing the hard work at the table to discover a worked out resolution, he said.

Countless Canadians, of employees, of farmers, of organizations right across the nation, are depending on both sides to do the work and get to a resolution.

Federal Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon, who met CN executives on Tuesday in Montreal, is due to hold talks with CPKC in Calgary on Wednesday.

Canada, the world's second-largest country by area, relies heavily on rail transportation to move a wide variety of items and commodities.

A group of organization associations called for Ottawa to prevent a stoppage.

The federal government must show management and act before our trains - and with them, our economy - grind to a stop, they said in a joint attract Trudeau.

MacKinnon, talking to Reuters in Montreal late on Tuesday, stated genuine issues stayed. The Teamsters state CN and CPKC are looking for concessions that would water down employee security, a charge that both companies reject.

MacKinnon has the power to refer the dispute to binding arbitration however the government said it wants the issue to be settled at the negotiating table.

Dean Roberts, a director of the Canola Council of Canada, told reporters that failure to reach an offer would indicate we are sleepwalking into a catastrophe.

A stoppage would cost grain farmers C$ 43 million a day starting next week, the council price quotes.

(source: Reuters)