Conrad Black: If a Rail Strike Occurs, It Should Be Rapidly Nipped in the Bud

Commentary There is ample precedent for how to deal with a railway strike, which it seems may occur in this country in the next few days. It is well settled by many previous occurrences of general strikes in that critical industry in Canada and the United States that no such action may be permitted to continue for long. The only previous comprehensive railway strike in Canadian history was that of August 1950, when 124,000 railway workers shut down practically all operations in the country, which caused extensive layoffs in related industries within a few days. It became clear almost at once that if the railways were not reactivated quickly, the economic life of the whole country would be substantially strangled and the food supply endangered. The government of Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent introduced strike-ending legislation with recourse to compulsory arbitration after nine days, with the agreement of the leader of the Progressive Conservative official Opposition George A. Drew. The ultimate settlement was generally deemed a reasonable compromise....