OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada’s opposition Liberals will let the Conservative government’s bill to end a strike at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd pass late on Thursday, meaning trains should start rolling again by midday on Friday.

The bill passed the House of Commons on Wednesday and debate will begin in the Senate on Thursday afternoon. Senate Liberal spokesman Marc Roy said his party had agreed to let the bill go through all stages on Thursday.

“The bill is expected to receive passage today,” he said.

It then will receive automatic approval from the Governor-General, and its provisions will take effect 12 hours later.

The Teamsters union struck on May 23, shutting down freight in Canada of the country’s second biggest railroad and forcing some of CP’s customers to reduce operations.

The striking workers have been without a contract since December 31. The main disagreement is over CP demands to cut pension funding by 40 percent.

Labour Minister Lisa Raitt introduced the back-to-work legislation on Monday after her efforts to mediate between the two sides came to naught. She said a long CP rail stoppage would cost the economy C$80 million ($78 million) a day.

The Liberals denied her request to let the bill pass the unelected Senate in one day on Wednesday, saying they wanted to hear witnesses on the issue.

“There’s even more at stake here than just CP and the railway,” Roy said. “There’s the settlement, but there’s also the overall plan of government interference into labor relations.”

When they were in power, the Liberals also passed legislation to end disruptions at important companies, but they say the Conservatives are doing it at an earlier stage in the disputes and are thereby paradoxically encouraging intransigence.

The Conservatives have resorted to legislation to end strikes at Air Canada and the Canada Post mail service.

Queen’s University labor relations expert George Smith, who will testify at the Senate on Thursday afternoon, said last week that government intervention can actually hurt the companies, as employees can disrupt operations with little impunity, knowing any work stoppage will be short.

A study by the C.D. Howe Institute, a Canadian think tank, found that a back-to-work bill triples the likelihood that in the next round of bargaining, legislation or arbitration will again be needed.

CP’s stock was down 0.4 percent at C$74.76 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday morning.

(Reporting by Randall Palmer; Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson and Eric Walsh)

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/canada-cp-rail-back-bill-pass-thursday-140849111--finance.html

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