Ottawa Ontario - Canada's employment minister says she isn't sure how 3,000 union members will respond to the latest offer from Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) in an ongoing dispute that has so far narrowly avoided a work stoppage.
 
"It's hard to say how the vote will go. It's now up to the employees to look at the offer by the employer and decide if it's the right offer for them," Patty Hajdu said in Ottawa Wednesday en route the weekly caucus meeting.
 
The minister intervened Friday night in the dispute on the advice of mediators and ordered a vote on the offer hours before a fast-approaching strike deadline.
 
The electronic vote, a date for which has not yet been set, will be administered by the Canada Industrial Relations Board."
 
We'll be looking forward to the results," Hajdu said, noting the board is ensuring members know the details of what they'll be voting on.
 
Teamsters Canada and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the two unions involved in the labour dispute, have publicly urged members to reject the offer saying it does not address worker concerns around fatigue and wages.
 
CP has resumed operations after informing customers it was beginning to shut down its Canadian rail network last Wednesday following the receipt of a formal strike notice from the unions.
 
More than 3,000 CP conductors and locomotive engineers voted 94 percent in favour of a strike mandate 6 Apr 2018.
 
The workers have been with out a collective agreement since the end of 2017.
 
The dispute comes as shippers in Western Canada continue to grapple with a transportation backlog that has left millions of tonnes of product, including grain, fertilizer, and forestry products, stuck across the Prairies.
 
It is the second transportation backlog to hit the region in five years.
 
The 2013-2014 crisis is estimated to have cost the economy up to $8 billion in losses.
 
Kelsey Johnson.