Adding Up the Bill

Canada sprawls farther east and far ther west than the continental U.S. And to keep the sprawl connected, it depends more than the U.S. on railroad service.

It was therefore with great relief that Canadians last week saw trains moving again after a seven-day strike. Trickling back to work were 119,000 members of 16 unions that had idled the big Canadian Pacific and Canadian National rail roads, as well as five smaller lines. Back also went employees of telegraph systems and essential ferry lines, which are under the striking unions' jurisdiction.

Still, in spite of direct government intervention, not all the sprawl appeared to be reconnected. Before the workers walked out, two federal conciliation boards had recommended an 18% wage increase, 8% of it payable this year and 10% more next year. Summoning Parliament to debate the crisis, Prime Minister Lester Pearson's Liberal government sought legislation that would authorize only the 8% increase. With an eye on Canada's increasing inflation, the government proposed that railroads and unions bargain out any remaining raise between themselves. The strikers would have none of that, and Parliament soon approved the entire 18% package. Still, militant union members were clearly unhappy about the size of the increase and threatened to remain on picket lines until they get more. If they do, they may face a further problem: a 1954 law makes strikers liable, at parliamentary discretion, to jail terms if they refuse to obey an order to return to their jobs. By week's end a nervous government had yet to enforce the threat.

Ferries & Jams. The settlement will add $165 million to the operating costs of the two transcontinental railroads.

The government is already subsidizing them to the tune of $100 million a year, and few politicians care to add to that cost. As a result, the next major piece of business before Parliament will be a bill, shelved two years ago after strong opposition, that cuts down on government subsidies and, at the same time, grants the railroads some relief from government control. Under this proposal, the railroads would be able to set their own rates in areas where they compete (the government would still set rates where one railroad has a monopoly). And they would be allowed to abandon unprofitable spur lines.

Waiting for that other shoe to drop, Canadians last week counted the dam age from their first major rail strike since 1950. Estimates were that it had cost $ 15 million a day in vanished wages, railroad revenues and losses to business. It had isolated for a time such areas as Prince Edward Island, which depends largely on railroad-owned ferry service to the mainland; it had also caused monumental traffic jams in Montreal, where people who normally use commuter trains flocked to work in cars. Most important, the lack of train service had doubled demands for passenger and cargo space on Air Canada and sent businessmen scurrying for highway trucks to keep their material rolling. The total percentage of the nation's goods handled by Canadian railroads has already dropped from 54% to 42% in a decade; inevitably, if businessmen find they like these alternate modes of transportation, the strike bill for the railroads may be even higher.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.