Canadian National Railway (CN) has issued a lockout notice to Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC).
CN formally advised the union Sunday of its intention to lockout Canadian TCRC-represented employees on Thursday, August 22 unless an agreement or binding arbitration is achieved before that time.
In a news release, CN said despite negotiations over the weekend, no meaningful progress had occurred, and the parties remain very far apart.
"Unless there is an immediate and definite resolution to the labour conflict, CN will have no choice but to continue the phased and progressive shutdown of its network which would culminate in a lockout," read the statement.
TCRC represents about 6,000 conductors, conductor trainees, yard coordinators and locomotive engineers across CN's network in Canada.
Both CN and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd (CPKC) have been halting shipments in preparation for potential work stoppages by a combined 9,300 workers at the two railways.
Both companies' labour agreements expired at the end of last year.