CP RAIL STRIKE ENDS HOURS AFTER IT BEGAN
Canadian Pacific Railway and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference say they have reached a four-year tentative agreement to end a strike hours after it began.
The parties also reached a fiveyear deal for the Kootenay Valley Railway.
The union says full operations at both railways will resume Thursday morning across Canada.
Union president Doug Finnson called the deal a fair contract that its members can feel good about.
CP Rail chief executive Keith Creel says the agreements are positive for 12,000 railway employees, customers and the entire Canadian economy.
Creel adds that the agreement will provide long-term stability.
The tentative agreements must be ratified by Teamsters members over the coming months.
Details of the agreement are being withheld pending ratification.
The train operators voted 94 per cent in favour of strike action to back their contract demands in early April and voted 98 per cent to reject CP’s final offer last Friday.
Both unions gave the railway notice over the weekend that they plan to walk off the job to support contract demands.
In 2015, train crews ended a brief walkout and agreed to arbitration after the Harper government warned of back-to-work legislation. Three years earlier, federal back-to-work legislation was enacted to end a 10-day strike.