Members of Parliament approved legislation on Tuesday night to force striking CN Rail employees back to work.

The bill handily passed third reading in the Commons 196-41.

The United Transportation Union, which represents 2,800 conductors and yard workers, said after the vote that it would continue to fight worker dissatisfaction with what it says are unfair work rules and conditions at CN.

"This bill appears to be intended to pave the way for CN Rail to attack our rights," union vice-president John Armstrong said in a release. "They want to break up our bargaining unit in order to weaken the workers' ability to stop management from pushing older workers out of the way, and manipulating work rules and schedules at workers' expense."

UTU members began rotating strikes last Tuesday following rejection of a tentative deal.

Canadian National Railway then locked out union members who took part in the strikes.

CN said this week a countrywide contract could not be reached.

The union issued a statement Monday saying the government should tell CN "to get serious about bargaining" rather than involving Parliament in the labour dispute.

Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn has justified the legislation as essential to the health of the Canadian economy.

The NDP denounced it as hamfisted.