Early on Wednesday, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference notified Canada?s biggest rail operator, Canadian National Railway Co., which its members had voted against a tentative agreement and would soon strike. Labor that day, the Conservative government has issued a statement making it clear that it would invoke back-to-work legislation if necessary to prevent transportation delays, similar to an ended strike at a rival Canadian railway and an airline in 2012. The strike could have involved more than 3,000 conductors and train and yard workers. After the government statement, the two sides returned to the bargaining table and eventually reached a new agreement which prevents the possibility of a strike.
See "CN Rail, union reach deal after government threatens back-to-work law", Susan Taylor, Reuters, February 5, 2014