The union representing thousands of railroaders has appealed the moves that ended the rail shutdown last week sa国际传媒� a work stoppage that halted freight and commuter traffic across the country.

In filings to the Federal Court of Appeal, the Teamsters union challenged directives for binding arbitration issued to a labour board by federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon last week following the lockout of 9,300 workers by Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd.

In response to MacKinnonsa国际传媒檚 instructions, the Canada Industrial Relations Board ordered the countrysa国际传媒檚 two major railways to resume operations and employees to return to their posts until binding arbitration could produce new contracts.

The union is also contesting the tribunalsa国际传媒檚 decisions.

Paul Boucher, president of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, says the actions set a sa国际传媒渄angerous precedentsa国际传媒� that threatens workerssa国际传媒� constitutional right to collective bargaining.

sa国际传媒淲ithout it, unions lose leverage to negotiate better wages and safer working conditions for all Canadians,sa国际传媒� Boucher said in a release.

The railway companies, along with some industry groups, have said the ministersa国际传媒檚 move ended months of needless uncertainty and subdued supply chain turmoil after the Teamsters rejected requests for arbitration.

MacKinnon made the back-to-work directive less than 17 hours after the lockouts sa国际传媒� as well as a strike by CPKCsa国际传媒檚 employees, but not CNsa国际传媒檚 sa国际传媒� took effect. He said the negotiations were at an impasse and Canadian businesses, job security and trade relationships were at stake.

Industry groups had been sounding the alarm for weeks over the economic consequences of a drawn-out shutdown. To ensure no freight would be stranded, CN and CPKC wound down their operations in phases, starting nearly three weeks ago.

Last week, traffic of cargo ranging from car parts to crude oil, consumer goods, grain and potash ground to a complete halt, temporarily upending supply chains.

More than 30,000 commuters in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver also found themselves unable to board passenger trains that run on CPKC-owned tracks.

The labour boardsa国际传媒檚 Aug. 24 ruling requires railways to continue operations and workers to stay on the job until arbitration wraps up.

The union filed four separate appeals in a Toronto courthouse late Thursday afternoon that seek a judicial order sa国际传媒渜uashingsa国际传媒� the ministersa国际传媒檚 directives and the labour tribunalsa国际传媒檚 decisions related to CN and CPKC.

After an acrimonious few weeks, the Teamsters and the two railways are slated to meet next month for the first time since the work stoppage to discuss a timeline for binding arbitration.