About 3,000 workers of Canadian National Railway, the country's largest railroad operator, went on strike on Tuesday.
Conductors, trainspersons and yard workers took to the picket line after both parties failed to resolve contract issues, labour union Teamsters Canada Rail Conference said in a tweet Tuesday.
A handful of striking workers were spotted outside CN yard Rockingham operations on Bedford Highway, CN Halifax intermodel terminal on Africville Road and CN Rail's Dartmouth Station on Alderney Drive.
The union had issued a 72-hour strike action notice period to the company on Saturday after the talks reached a stalemate, setting the momentum for the first strike at Canadian National in a decade.
Conductors, trainperson and yard workers at #CN are now officially ON #STRIKE!@CNRailway #CN #cdnpoli #cdnecon #canlab #Canada pic.twitter.com/j0szgP5gbB
— Teamsters Canada (@TeamstersCanada) November 19, 2019
On Monday, the union said the strike comes because workers are "hitting a wall on issues related to health and safety."
"Too many railroaders are operating trains when they should be resting," Lyndon Isaak, president of the TCRC, said in a news release.
"For the safety of all Canadians, we cannot allow CN to make it even harder for our members to get the rest they need."
Canada, one of the world's biggest exporters of farm products, relies on its two main railways to move canola and wheat over the vast distances from western farms to ports. Crude oil shippers in Alberta have also increasingly used trains in the past year to reach U.S. refineries as an alternative to congested pipelines.
"Rail service is essential to the Port of Halifax," spokesman Lane Farguson said in an emailed statement.
"The Halifax Port Authority is monitoring contractual developments and CN is keeping HPA informed. Terminal operators, CN and HPA are co-ordinating activities."
The federal government said Tuesday said it would monitor the Canadian National Railway strike that is disrupting grain and oil deliveries as thousands of workers walked off the job for their first time in a decade.
"The Government of Canada understands the importance of the rail industry and its workers to the Canadian economy. While we are concerned about the impact of a work stoppage on Canadians, we remain hopeful they will reach an agreement," a joint statement from the Labor and Transport ministries said.
"We are monitoring the situation closely."
The two sides said they will continue talks on Tuesday in Montreal.
A TCRC spokesman said the union has "made no progress with the company."
In a statement, CN said it is "disappointed that the TCRC has initiated strike action."
CN workers voted in favor of a strike in September after negotiations failed to produce a contract. The previous collective bargaining agreement expired on July 23.
