OMAHA (DTN) -- The union representing thousands of Canadian railroad workers on Friday pressed for a strike starting as early as Monday after initially agreeing to the federal government's demands to end a work stoppage with the country's two largest freight railroads.

The contentious labor dispute has gridlocked roughly $1 billion of daily freight movement for the Canadian National Railway (CN) and the Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) railroad.

The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) early Friday stated it would stop picketing the CN railroad and union members would return to work on Friday.

Hours later, the TCRC then served notice to strike against both the CN and CPKC with a 72-hour notice for approximately 6,500 members. The strike would begin Monday, Aug. 26.

"We do not believe that any of the matters we have been discussing over the last several days are insurmountable, and we remain available for discussion in order to resolve this matter without a further work stoppage," the union leaders wrote.

Canadian National wrote on its website that the railway "proactively ended the lockout of the Teamsters" on Thursday after government officials moved to impose binding arbitration. Pointing to the strike notice, CN stated, "This latest development confirms that the Teamsters never took negotiations seriously and that they had no desire to reach a deal."

The TCRC had also pressed to maintain the work stoppage against CPKC with a meeting between the union and railroad already set for Friday. TCRC leaders then held a rally outside of CPKC's headquarters in Calgary, Alberta.

The railroads had preemptively moved early Thursday morning to lock out the Teamsters union after negotiations over a new contract have failed. Those talks began back in January. The CN and CPKC then supported the Minister of Labour's announcement to impose binding arbitration on the railways and the unions. The Labour order also requires freight operations to resume for the two railroads, but the union has balked.

See more DTN coverage on the railroad dispute, government actions taken Thursday, and reaction to the rail stoppage at https://www.dtnpf.com/….

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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