Canadian rail companies have announced temporary layoffs because of
the ongoing protests against a natural gas pipeline which has shut down
much of the country’s rail system for nearly two weeks. Today, VIA Rail
announced it would
lay off 1,000 workers:
“Until
CN Rail opens the remaining tracks for service, VIA Rail has no choice
but to continue the cancellation of its services on a large part of its
network,” Via Rail said in a statement. “It is with sincere regret that
we must proceed with temporary employee suspensions.”
Chief
executive Cynthia Garneau called the service interruption due to a
13-day blockade east of Belleville, Ontario, “unprecedented.”
“In
42 years of existence, it is the first time that VIA Rail, a public
intercity passenger rail service, has to interrupt most of its services
across the country,” she said in a statement.
The company has cancelled more than 530 trains since blockades began Feb. 6.
That’s the second set of layoffs announced this week. Yesterday, CN Rail said it would lay off
450 employees:
CN Rail is laying off about 450 workers in its
operations in Eastern Canada after cancelling more than 400 trains in
the past week over a rail blockade protesting an LNG pipeline in British
Columbia…
The Montreal-based railway says the situation is
“regrettable” because the impact on the economy and its employees from
the protests is unrelated to CN’s activities and beyond its control.
There’s
no immediate sign that protesters intend to stop blocking rail lines
but even if they did it would take weeks for industries dependent on
rail transportation to recover. Already business groups are warning of
massive losses as a
result of the blockade:
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